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THE  YOUTH  AND  THE 
NATION 

A  GUIDE  TO  SERVICE 


BY 
HARRY  H.  MOORE 

AUTHOR   OF   "keeping   IN   CONDITION" 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

SAMUEL  McCUNE  LINDSAY,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

PHOFESSOR   OF  SOCIAL   LEGISLATION 
COLUMBIA   UNIVEBSITT 


ILLUSTRATED 


5Jpm  fork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1917 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1917 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  July,  1917. 


»   »   » 


A  CALL  TO  SERVICE 

You,  at  this  moment,  have  the  honor  to  belong 
to  a  generation  whose  hps  are  touched  by  fire.  .  .  . 
The  human  race  now  passes  through  one  of  its 
great  crises.  New  ideas,  new  issues — a  new  call 
for  men  to  carry  on  the  work  of  righteousness,  of 
charity,  of  courage,  of  patience,  and  of  loyalty — 
all  these  things  have  come  and  are  daily  coming 
to  you. 

When  you  are  old  .  .  .  however  memory  brings 
back  this  moment  to  your  minds,  let  it  be  able  to 
say  to  you :  That  was  a  great  moment.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era.  .  .  .  This  world  in  its 
crisis  called  for  volunteers,  for  men  of  faith  in  life, 
of  patience  in  service,  of  charity,  and  of  insight.  I 
responded  to  the  call  however  I  could.  I  volun- 
teered to  give  myself  to  my  master — the  cause 
of  humane  and  brave  living.  I  studied,  I  loved, 
I  labored,  unsparingly  and  hopefully,  to  be  worthy 
of  my  generation. 

JOSIAH  ROYCE. 


PREFACE 

Replies  to  a  series  of  questions  collected  from 
eight  hundred  young  men  and  older  boys  in  nine 
representative  American  cities  have  convinced  the 
author  of  the  need  for  the  information  he  has  at- 
tempted to  set  forth  in  this  book.  The  questions 
were  formulated  in  an  effort  to  reveal  the  youth's 
attitude  towards  society  and  his  information  re- 
garding the  social  problems  which  he  must  face 
later  as  a  citizen.  The  replies  show  a  deplorable 
amount  of  ignorance:  in  the  minds  of  many,  pov- 
erty does  not  exist;  the  idea  of  choosing  a  vocation 
for  the  purpose  of  becoming  socially  useful — the 
mere  idea  of  so  doing  seems  never  to  have  occurred 
to  many.* 

If  we  are  to  make  headway  against  the  social 
evils  which  threaten  the  nation,  we  must  enlist 
the  youth.    We  must  do  more  than  offer  courses  in 

*  See  The  High  School  Boy  and  Modern  Social  Problems, 
Harry  H.  Moore,  The  Educational  Review,  October,  1917 


viii  PREFACE 

sociology  and  economics  in  the  college  curriculum. 
Many  boys  go  to  college  to  continue  the  studies 
in  which  they  become  interested  while  in  high 
school  with  no  clear  idea  of  the  subject-matter  of 
sociology  and  economics.  What  is  more  impor- 
tant, only  a  small  proportion  of  high  school  boys 
go  to  college.  Many  young  men  enter  business 
and  professional  life  and  become  citizens  without 
any  clear  conception  of  our  most  fundamental 
social  problems. 

This  book  is  an  attempt  to  arouse  a  wholesome 
interest  among  young  men  and  older  boys  of  col- 
lege and  high  school  age  in  modern  social  evils,  to 
show  them  how  men  have  combatted  these  evils 
and  to  suggest  vocational  opportunities  in  the 
warfare  against  them. 

Seldom  has  an  author  been  blessed  with  so  many 
helpful  friends  as  has  the  writer  of  this  little  vol- 
ume. Especially  is  he  indebted  to  Professor 
William  F.  Ogburn  and  Professor  Norman  F. 
Coleman,  of  Reed  College  who  constantly  have 
advised  him  in  its  development.  Thanks  are  due 
also  to  Dr.  Edward  O.  Sisson,  Commissioner  of  Ed- 


PREFACE  ix 

ucation  of  the  State  of  Idaho,  to  Mr.  C.  C.  Robin- 
son of  the  International  Committee  of  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations,  to  Jesse  B.  Davis, 
Principal  of  the  Central  High  School,  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan,  to  H.  H.  Herdman,  Principal 
of  the  Washington  High  School,  Portland,  Oregon, 
to  Professors  Harold  G.  Merriam,  Joseph  K.  Hart, 
Ethel  M.  Coleman  of  Reed  College,  and  to  college 
and  high  school  students  all  of  whom  have  made 
valuable  suggestions  or  have  aided  in  other  ways. 

H.  H.  M. 

Reed  College,  Portland,  Oregon, 
June,  1917. 


INTRODUCTION 

War  makes  its  strongest  appeal  to  youth  be- 
cause it  is  a  challenge  both  to  physical  prowess 
and  to  the  idealism  of  youth.  Where  the  hazard 
is  so  great  the  cause  must  have  a  value  greater 
than  life  itself.  It  becomes  therefore  a  sort  of 
supreme  vocational  motive  for  the  time  being. 
The  surrender  once  made,  what  has  been  deemed 
worth  dying  for  is  conceived  to  be  the  supreme 
thing  worth  living  for  and  fighting  for. 

The  author  is  sincerely  interested  in  the  great 
army  of  adolescent  youth,  the  high  school  boys 
in  particular  who  have  not  yet  found  themselves, 
and  who  are  such  a  puzzle  to  their  parents,  their 
teachers  and  their  friends.  In  his  "Keeping  in 
Condition"  he  struck  the  new  and  modern  note 
of  physical  efficiency,  and  put  in  an  exceptionally 
sensible  and  attractive  way  just  the  sort  of  good 
advice  which  the  average  boy  is  altogether  too  apt 
to  overlook  or  treat  with  indifference. 

It  is  a  happy,  timely  and  helpful  idea  to  bring 
together  in  the  present  volume  on  "The  Youth 
and  the  Nation,"  a  collection  of  the  vocational 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

experiences  of  some  of  the  leaders  in  the  really 
social  vocations  to  fire  the  ambition  and  to  idealize 
the  eternal  war  against  disease,  economic  injustice 
and  man's  inhumanity  to  man.  Mr.  Moore  gives 
us  in  language  which  the  boy  can  understand 
the  vocational  experiences  of  those  who  have  gone 
to  the  front,  lived  in  the  trenches  and  taken 
the  range  of  the  enemy  bacteria  in  the  physical 
universe  or  the  germs  of  greed  and  economic 
selfishness  which  are  more  numerous  and  harmful 
to  man  and  his  social  institutions  than  the  tor- 
pedoes of  the  submarine,  the  bombs  of  the  latest 
aircraft,  or  the  bullets  of  the  most  modern  machine 
guns.  This  is  the  sort  of  "social  literature" 
which  is  needed  everywhere  and  for  all  stages  of 
the  educational  process  from  the  kindergarten  to 
the  college.  A  little  of  it  has  penetrated  the  col- 
leges and  the  universities  in  the  last  generation 
but  for  the  most  part  that  is  too  late  to  have  the 
maximum  molding  effect  in  the  choice  of  a  voca- 
tion. The  choices  are  usually  made  before  one 
gets  to  college,  and  then  there  are  so  many  that 
never  go  to  college  who  stumble  blindly  into  vo- 
cations that  just  turn  up  and  never  satisfy  the 
real  longing  of  the  soul.  It  is  high  time  that  the 
effort  was  made,  especially  in  these  days  of  voca- 


INTRODUCTION  xili 

tional  education  and  so-called  vocational  guidance 
in  our  public  school  systems,  to  bring  this  material 
to  the  high  school  and  to  adapt  it  to  the  atmosphere 
and  curriculum  of  secondary  education. 

It  is  not  the  sentimental  appeal  or  the  motive  of 
self-sacrifice  which  in  the  past  has  played  so  large 
a  part  in  recruiting  the  professions  of  teaching  and 
the  Christian  ministry,  that  the  author  relies  upon 
chiefly  in  his  call  to  social  service.  Strangely 
enough  Mr.  Moore  passes  over  very  lightly  both  of 
these  professions  in  his  emphasis  upon  the  larger 
social  vocations.  Perhaps  he  thought  they  did  not 
need  further  emphasis,  or  that  they  are  hardly  up 
to  the  highest  standards  demanded  by  the  modern 
social  spirit.  It  is  rather,  and  very  properly,  the 
wonderful  vista  of  conquest  that  he  takes  as  the 
more  positive  note  of  appeal.  The  modern  sani- 
tarian, the  economist-administrator  and  the  busi- 
ness man  armed  with  science  and  girt  about  with 
the  social  values  of  invention,  are  rather  the  types 
of  the  ideal.  These  furnish  the  incentive  to  en- 
deavor which  can  only  be  successful  in  proportion 
as  it  is  unselfish  and  breaks  down  whenever  trans- 
muted into  mere  personal  gain  or  arbitrary  and 
unsocial  power. 

In  this  pioneer  effort  Mr.  Moore  will  receive 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

the  thanks  and  co-operation  of  thousands  of  teach- 
ers and  parents  for  whom  he  has  merely  pointed 
the  way  to  a  new  method  of  attack  and  to  new 
resources  of  information  and  inspiration  in  the 
vocational  training  and  guidance  of  young  boys. 
He  would  doubtless  be  the  first  to  admit  that  he 
has  merely  scratched  the  surface  of  the  vocational 
experiences  of  typical  men  in  many  walks  of  life. 
He  will  also  be  the  more  eager  to  welcome  that 
growing  record  which  others  imitating  his  example 
will  make  of  the  incidents  of  the  common  everyday 
life  about  us  which  reflect  the  true  social  spirit  of 
America. 

Samuel  McCune  Lindsay. 

New  York,  May  15,  1917. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface vii 

Introduction xi 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Fighting  Strength  of  Youth 1 

n.  Enemies  of  the  Nation 8 

Disease 8 

'Feeble-mindedness 10 

>  Juvenile  Delinquency  and  Crime 11 

■«  The  Evils  of  Immigration 15 

Commercialized  Prostitution 18 

Liquor  and  the  Saloon 20 

The  Disasters  of  Industry 21 

^  Child  Labor 23 

Women  in  Industry 25 

in.  More  Enemies 28 

Unemployment 28 

Rural  Poverty 31 

Poverty  in  the  City 34 

The  Luxury  and  Extravagance  of  the  Rich ...  38 

The  Inequitable  Distribution  of  Wealth 40 

Will  the  Nation  Survive 43 

IV.  Shall  the  Youth  Enlist? 46 

V.  Choosing  a  Life  Work 55 

Social      Considerations      in      Various     Voca- 
tions    56 

Considerations  of  Special  Fitness .  62 

XV 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VI.  Preparation  for  Life  Work 67 

Physical  Preparation 67 

Mental  Preparation 71 

Vn.  Defenders  of  the  Nation — In  the  Professions  77 

A  Physician 77 

A  Teacher 83 

A  Physical  Director 85 

A  Lawyer 87 

A  Politician 89 

An  Engineer 91 

A  Minister 94 

A  Missionary 97 

Three  Men  in  the  Field  of  Art 100 

A    Forester 101 

A  Journalist 102 

Vni.  Defenders  of  the  Nation — In  Business  Life  .  .  106 
A  Student  of  Economics  who  became  a  Busi- 
ness Man 106 

A  Business  Man  who  Practiced   the  Golden 

Rule 108 

A  Man  who   Gave  his  Business  to  his  Em- 
ployees    110 

A    Corporation    President    who    Promotes 

Welfare   Work Ill 

Attitudes  Towards  Profit  Sharing  and   Wel- 
fare  Work 112 

IX.  Defenders  of  the  Nation — In  Agriculture  and 

Industry 116 

From  Farmer  to  Governor 117 

Other  Useful  Farmers 119 

The  County  Agent 120 

Social  Usefulness  in  Farming 121 

A  Chanii)i()n  of  Labor 123 

A  Leader  of  Miners 126 


CONTENTS  xvii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

X.  Defenders  of  the  Nation — In  Organized  So- 
cial Work 131 

The  Secretary  of  the  National   Child  Labor 

Committee 132 

A  Prison  Warden 134 

The  Founder  of  the  Adirondack  Cottage  San- 
itarium      136 

A  Secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation     139 

XI.  Defenders  of  the  Nation — In  Avocations 143 

A  Railroad   President  who  Defended  Public 

Interests 143 

Two    Bankers    who    Served    their    City    and 

State 148 

An  Avocation  for  Students 150 

Thoughtless    Imitation    vs.    Intelligent    Serv- 
ice     152 

Problems  All  Must  Face 155 

Xn.  A  Call  to  Action 158 

Selected  Books 169 

Notes 171 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Walter   Reed Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

Air  Shaft  Opening  of  a  Tenement 16 

Boys  who  will  Never  See 20 

The  Trapper  Boy 24 

A  Street  Gamin 52 

Charles  R.  Henderson 90 

John  M.  Eshleman 90 

Who  will  Buy  Food  for  the  Children  Now? 109 

Sing  Sing  Prison 134 

Owen  R.  Lovejoy 140 

John  R.  Mott 140 

WiUiam  H.  Baldwin,  Jr 144 

An  Immigrant  Boy 150 

Two  Ways  of  Getting  a  Meal 162 


THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 


THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

A  GUIDE  TO  SERVICE 
CHAPTER  I 

THE  FIGHTING   STRENGTH   OF  YOUTH 

When  the  German  army  was  invading  Belgium 
and  had  reached  Liege,  a  Belgian  youth  of  seven- 
teen named  Van  der  Bern  was  placed  in  charge 
of  a  patrol  of  twenty  men  for  reconnoitering  out- 
side the  city.  On  the  night  of  August  5,  1914, 
he  had  been  out  with  his  men  for  twenty-five 
minutes,  when  they  unexpectedly  came  upon  a 
group  of  about  fifty  Germans.  The  surprised 
Belgians  began  to  flee,  but  Van  der  Bern  shouted, 
**A  moi!"  and  ran  fearlessly  towards  the  Germans. 
The  others  responded  and  together  they  hurled 
themselves  upon  the  enemy.  The  odds  were  over- 
whelmingly against  them  and  in  a  few  minutes 
Van  der  Bern  was  left  with  only  two  companions. 
In  thirty  seconds  these  two  fell.  With  almost 
superhuman   effort,   the   boy  got  them   back   to 


2   THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

safety,  but  not  before  two  German  bullets  had 
struck  him.  He  placed  his  comrades  in  the  care 
of  the  Red  Cross,  went  to  his  superior  officer  and 
reported  the  engagement.    Then  he  fell  in  a  faint. 

In  an  action  in  Russia  near  Ivoff,  a  company 
of  Russians  in  a  trench  was  surprised  by  a  large 
body  of  Austrians.  A  murderous  fire  was  con- 
centrated upon  them.  Whenever  a  Russian  hat 
was  seen,  it  was  instantly  perforated  with  bullets. 
The  Russians  were  able  to  do  but  little.  They 
soon  ran  out  of  ammunition.  The  officers  in 
charge  called  for  a  volunteer  to  make  an  attempt 
to  bring  reinforcements  from  the  Russian  lines. 
The  Austrians  were  firing  from  a  distance  of 
only  three  hundred  paces;  the  risk  was  great. 
A  youth  named  Nicholas  Orloff  responded.  As 
soon  as  he  started,  the  fire  of  the  Austrians  was 
turned  full  upon  him.  He  was  shot.  Wounded 
as  he  w^as,  he  crawled  forward  until  he  reached  the 
Russian  position.  Reinforcements  were  sent  and 
his  companions  were  saved.  Nicholas  Orloff  was 
awarded  the  Cross  of  St.  George — the  highest 
Russian  military  decoration.^ 

When  the  Italian  government  in  July,  1915, 
issued  an  order  forbidding  the  acceptance  of  vol- 
unteers under  eighteen  years  of  age,  says  a  dis- 


FIGHTING  STRENGTH  OF  YOUTH    3 

patch  from  Lugano,  there  was  great  disappoint- 
ment among  sixteen  and  seventeen  year  old  boys. 
When  they  had  to  give  up  their  arms  and  uniforms, 
many  broke  down  and  wept.^ 

In  American  wars  thousands  of  brave  youths 
have  enhsted  and  their  heroism  is  still  remem- 
bered. In  the  War  of  1812,  David  Farragut, 
when  but  a  boy,  distinguished  himself  in  a  bloody 
battle  with  the  English;  and  we  are  still  thrilled 
by  the  youthful  exploits  of  John  Paul  Jones, 
Ethan  Allen  and  Commodore  Perry. 

Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Great  War,  many 
American  young  men,  though  their  own  country 
had  not  yet  become  involved,  enlisted  in  the 
Canadian  and  French  armies.  One  of  these  was 
Victor  Chapman.  When  the  war  broke  out  he 
was  studying  in  Paris.  He  immediately  entered 
the  Foreign  Legion  and  later  joined  a  group  of 
young  Americans  in  the  aviation  service  of  France. 
On  one  occasion.  Chapman,  wishing  to  gratify  a 
wounded  comrade's  desire  for  an  orange,  obtained 
a  small  basket  of  them  and  set  forth  in  his  aero- 
plane for  the  hospital  where  his  friend  lay.  While 
on  his  way,  he  discovered  several  black  spots 
against  the  sky  indicating  an  engagement  between 
French  and  German  aircraft.     Chapman  imme- 


4   THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

diately  dashed  to  a  great  height,  put  his  machine 
gun  into  action  and  brought  down  two  German 
aeroplanes.  Then  one  of  the  Germans  found  his 
mark  and  Chapman  plunged  hfeless  to  the  earth. 
Victor  Chapman  combined  in  his  h'fe  young  and 
tranquil  gayety  with  decision,  energy,  and  char- 
acter. The  venerated  French  philosopher,  Emile 
Boutroux,  said  of  Chapman  in  the  Paris  Temps^ 
"He  was  duty  incarnate;  disdaining  all  danger, 
he  dreamed  only  of  doing  his  utmost  in  a  useful 
task."  3 

To  many  youths  in  the  Great  War  have  come 
opportunities  for  heroic  action;  and  to  most  sol- 
diers at  the  front  has  come  the  excitement  of  the 
charge.  To  the  rank  and  file,  war  brings  also  the 
drudgery  and  monotony  of  camp  life  and  the 
sordidness  of  life  in  the  trenches.  Bullets  may 
be  faced  with  courage.  It  is  the  mud  and  water, 
the  vermin,  the  stench,  the  weariness,  the  enforced 
inactivity  that  try  men's  souls. 

Yet  the  youths  of  every  nation  always  have 
been  ready;  and  however  unexpected  have  been 
the  drudgery,  monotony  and  hardship,  they  have 
met  them  cheerfully  and  courageously.  Aroused 
by  patriotic  emotions,  they  have  gladly  left  loved 
ones  and  the  comforts  of  home  in  order  that  they 


FIGHTING  STRENGTH  OF  YOUTH    5 

might  fight  for  their  country.  The  best  fighters 
of  every  nation  have  been  its  youths. 

In  attending  to  military  warfare,  however,  the 
youths  of  America  have  overlooked  enemies  within 
our  borders  more  dangerous  than  menacing 
armies.  They  have  failed  to  notice  that  disease, 
crime  and  poverty  have  been  causing  destruc- 
tion more  serious  than  the  devastation  of  war. 
The  number  who  died  of  typhoid  fever  in  the 
United  States  in  1912  probably  exceeded  the  num- 
ber killed  in  six  of  the  greatest  battles  of  the  Civil 
War;  ^  crime,  as  we  shall  see,  causes  a  vast  amount 
of  suffering  and  poverty  undermines  the  strength 
of  the  whole  nation. 

In  times  of  military  warfare  it  is  especially  im- 
portant to  combat  these  internal  enemies,  be- 
cause they  sap  the  energies  of  the  youth — the 
nation's  best  fighters.  Only  as  we  are  successful 
in  overcoming  our  internal  foes,  can  we  be  in  con- 
dition for  other  wars.  In  1916  and  1917  the  men 
and  boys  of  the  United  States  were  in  a  deplorable 
state  of  unpreparedness.  Their  physical  unfitness 
was  shown  by  the  small  proportion  of  applicants 
admitted  into  the  regular  army.  During  the 
first  fifty-eight  days  of  the  campaign  for  recruits 
which  began  in  March,  1916, /owr  out  of  every  five 


0   THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

were  rejected  because  they  ivere  physically  unfits 
Every  year  thousands  of  men  and  boys  are  in- 
capacitated for  military  service  through  injuries 
sustained  in  industry;  '^  other  thousands  are  weak- 
ened by  dissipation  and  disease; ''  an  army  of 
youths  may  be  found  at  all  times  in  our  jails  and 
prisons,  useless  as  fighters  and  a  source  of  expense 
to  the  nation;  thousands  of  boys  and  men  are 
being  weakened  through  lack  of  suflScient  nourish- 
ment due  to  poverty.^ 

In  times  of  security  from  external  foes,  the  na- 
tion should  seek  to  direct  the  skill  of  its  army  and 
the  fighting  strength  of  its  entire  body  of  young 
men  into  the  warfare  against  poverty,  crime  and 
disease.  This  is  a  warfare  which  must  be  waged 
incessantly.  The  fighting  seldom  will  be  dramatic. 
Most  of  it  will  be  as  monotonous  as  life  in  a  mili- 
tary training  camp.  Only  a  few  men  will  be  called 
upon  to  die  in  action.  Many  will  be  required  to 
render  a  more  difficult  service.  They  will  be 
called  upon  to  live  for  their  country,  giving  full 
years  of  active  service,  struggling  against  dis- 
couragement and  grappling  with  intricate,  baffling 
problems. 

Alike  in  times  of  great  national  crises  and  in 
periods  of  constructive  activity,  the  young  man 


FIGHTING  STRENGTH  OF  YOUTH    7 

must  consider  thoughtfully  what  his  duty  to  his 
country  is  and  what  patriotism  means.  To  wear 
a  little  flag  in  one's  button-hole,  to  march  in  a 
parade,  to  applaud  the  manoeuvers  of  battle-ships 
on  the  moving-picture  screen,  to  sing  "My  Coun- 
try, 'Tis  of  Thee"  with  fervor — these  things  in 
themselves  are  but  empty  forms.  To  have  value 
they  must  be  accompanied  by  a  love  of  country 
so  strong  that  it  demands  expression  in  some  sub- 
stantial service. 

Men  may  serve  the  nation  by  fighting  in  army 
or  navy.  They  may  render  service  which  is  as 
important,  by  taking  part  in  the  warfare  against 
the  nation's  internal  enemies.  Young  men  always 
are  eager  to  defend  their  country  from  its  foes 
without.  They  will  be  eager  to  protect  it  from 
enemies  within  our  gates  when  they  realize  that 
these  enemies  are  a  greater  menace.  If  the  United 
States  is  to  survive  as  a  great  nation,  and  if  civili- 
zation is  to  advance  during  the  next  quarter 
century,  the  nation's  youth  must  wage  with  vigor 
and  persistence  this  warfare  against  disease,  crime 
and  poverty. 


CHAPTER  II 

ENEMIES    OF   THE    NATION 

Every  man  is  familiar  with  the  Hves  of  one  or  more 
military  heroes,  with  the  campaigns  they  have 
waged  and  the  battles  they  have  lost  and  won. 
Their  lives  have  been  an  inspiration.  Let  us  now 
consider  the  warfare  against  crime,  disease  and 
poverty  and  a  few  of  its  heroes.  We  shall  find 
that  it  is  a  warfare  demanding  energy,  endurance, 
determination  and  courage  of  a  high  order,  and 
a  high  degree  of  intelligence. 

These  ancient  foes  of  mankind — disease,  crime 
and  poverty — manifest  themselves  in  many  dif- 
ferent social  evils.  Let  us  look  at  the  devastation 
and  suffering  which  they  cause. 

Disease. — In  July,  1916,  there  were  mobilized  in 
New  York  City,  the  forces  of  nation,  state  and  city 
for  one  of  the  biggest  battles  to  save  human  life 
that  has  ever  been  fought.  A  million  babies  were 
threatened  with  a  mysterious  disease,  called  in- 
fantile paralysis.  In  a  few  weeks,  there  were  thou- 
sands of  cases  and  hundreds  of  deaths. 

8 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  9 

Health  Commissioner  Emerson  of  New  York 
City,  with  the  consent  of  the  pohce  department, 
called  out  New  York's  10,000  "home  guards" — 
citizens  trained  for  co-operation  in  crises — to  aid 
in  enforcing  sanitary  measures.  Deputy  Surgeon 
General  W.  C.  Rucker  of  the  United  States  Public 
Health  Service  established  a  complete  laboratory 
and  an  administrative  force  of  public  health  serv- 
ants to  help  the  city  health  officers.^  By  Septem- 
ber, the  epidemic  seemed  to  have  run  its  course. 
The  means  of  transmission,  however,  has  not  been 
ascertained,  and  the  conquest  of  the  disease  has 
not  yet  been  achieved. 

In  the  United  States,  there  are  probably  at  all 
times  about  3,000,000  persons  seriously  ill,  and 
every  day  1700  unnecessary  deaths. ^°  Of  the 
20,000,000  school  children  in  the  country  to-day 
2,000,000  will  die  of  tuberculosis  (consumption) 
if  they  continue  to  die  at  the  present  rate.^^ 
If  a  single  health  officer  were  required  to  take  the 
names  of  these  doomed  children  as  they  passed 
through  his  office  at  the  rate  of  one  a  minute,  ten 
hours  a  day,  seven  days  in  the  week,  the  task  would 
take  over  nine  years. 

England  and  Germany  protect  their  citizens 
by  health  insurance.    The  only  great  industrial 


10     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

country  without  such  protection  for  its  people  is 
the  United  States. 

Systematic  fights  against  infantile  paralysis, 
typhoid  fever,  tuberculosis  and  other  diseases 
are  waged  with  vigor  from  time  to  time;  a  few 
have  given  their  lives  in  fighting  them.  A  well 
organized  warfare  against  disease  is  developing. 
When  physicians  adopt  more  vigorous  methods 
and  attack  disease  in  its  many  breeding  places 
instead  of  waiting  for  it  first  to  attack  human 
hves,  great  victories  will  be  won  by  science  and 
much  human  suffering  will  be  prevented. 

Feehle-mindedness. — In  1803,  Martin  Kallikak, 
Jr.,  a  feeble-minded  man,  married  Rhoda  Zabeth, 
a  normal  woman.  They  had  ten  children  and  from 
them  have  come  not  less  than  four  hundred  and 
seventy  descendants.  Among  these  ten  children 
and  their  descendants  were  the  following: 
143  feeble-minded  persons. 

36  illegitimate  children. 

33  sexually  immoral  persons,  mostly  prostitutes. 

24  confirmed  alcoholics. 
3  epileptics. 

82  children  who  died  in  infancy. 
8  persons  who  kept  houses  of  ill  fame. 
3  criminals.  ^'-^ 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  11 

Feeble-mindedness  constitutes  a  serious  menace 
to  society,  for  it  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  crime, 
prostitution,  alcohohsm  and  poverty.  Many  of  the 
feeble-minded  are  unable  to  hold  positions  in  in- 
dustry; they  can  support  neither  themselves  nor 
their  families.  Feeble-mindedness  is  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation.  If  both  parents 
are  feeble-minded  the  children  are  almost  sure  to 
be  feeble-minded;  if  only  one  parent  is  defective, 
feeble-mindedness  is  likely  to  show  in  either  of  the 
next  two  generations. 

There  are  from  300,000  to  400,000  feeble-minded 
persons  in  the  United  States.  ^^  In  other  words, 
there  are  virtually  as  many  feeble-minded  per- 
sons in  the  country  as  there  are  students  in  the 
colleges  and  universities.  Sociologists  are  seri- 
ously considering  what  can  be  done  safely  to 
prevent  the  feeble-minded  from  reproducing 
themselves. 

Juvenile  Delinquency  and  Crime. — A  Chicago 
jail  was  full  of  the  confusion  of  curses,  screams, 
groans  and  obscenity.  "It's  a  dull  night,  but 
noisy,"  said  the  patient  turnkey.  Suddenly  two 
figures  appeared  outside  the  entrance,  one  was  a 
big  policeman,  the  other,  a  boy  of  seventeen,  short 
and  slender. 


12     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

"  Have  you  got  room  for  our  young  friend  here?  " 
asked  the  officer  with  a  grin,  as  the  turnkey  swung 
open  the  heavy  door.  The  boy's  face  was  pale 
and  his  eyes  had  a  look  of  terror  in  them. 

"Please  don't  lock  me  up,  mister,"  he  pled. 

"Haven't  you  got  some  friend  who'll  go  your 
bail,''  How  about  the  man  you  work  for?"  asked 
the  turnkey. 

"Oh,  no!  If  he  knows  I'm  pinched,  I'll  lose  my 
job.    I  don't  want  nobody  to  know." 

"We'll  give  you  the  best  we've  got,"  said  the 
turnkey.     "Come  along." 

He  opened  a  cell  door  and  the  boy  went  falter- 
ingly  in.  There  were  two  others  in  the  cell,  one  a 
dope  fiend  and  the  other  a  youth  charged  with 
picking  pockets.  The  dope  fiend  made  room  for 
the  boy  on  his  wooden  bench.  For  fourteen  hours, 
they  were  confined  there  together.  Now  and  then, 
the  boy  would  fall  to  sleep  only  to  be  awakened  by 
the  hideous  screams  of  a  prisoner  with  delirium 
tremens.  Occasionally  the  dope  fiend  leaned  over 
and  talked  with  the  boy  in  low  tones.  Later  in 
the  night  he  began  to  suffer  from  lack  of  his  drug; 
presently  he  dropped  to  the  floor;  his  head  fell 
back  and  his  eyes  rolled  wildly.  All  night  long, 
at   frequent   intervals,   there   were   outbursts   of 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  13 

drunken  profanity  as  groups  of  new  prisoners  were 
received  and  put  into  cells. 

In  the  morning,  the  boy  was  taken  in  a  patrol 
wagon  to  the  boys'  court.  It  appeared  in  court 
that,  while  riding  his  bicycle,  he  had  run  acciden- 
tally into  a  child.  He  had  stopped  immediately, 
had  picked  up  the  child  and  had  taken  it  to  its 
mother.  This  was  his  crime.  Because  of  it,  his 
self-respect  had  been  assaulted;  he  had  been  ex- 
posed to  both  physical  and  moral  disease;  he  had 
heard  more  profanity  and  vulgarity  in  one  night, 
than  most  boys  hear  in  a  year.^^ 

Conditions  in  many  city  police  stations  are  bad; 
in  county  jails  they  are  worse.  Some  are  under- 
ground, as  were  the  dungeons  of  the  dark  ages. 
In  some  cases,  the  cells  are  overrun  with  vermin 
and  rats.  In  many  county  jails,  no  attempt  is 
made  to  keep  boys  separate  from  adult  murderers, 
perverts  and  other  criminals.  A  large  proportion 
of  those  detained  are  innocent.  ^^ 

Many  men  leave  state  prisons  worse  criminals 
than  when  they  came.  Said  one  man,  "I  will  tell 
you  how  I  felt  at  the  end  of  my  jSrst  term.  I  hated 
everybody  and  everything,  and  I  made  up  my 
mind  I  would  get  even." 

The  greatest  crime  in  the  United  States  is  the 


14     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

wholesale  manufacture  of  criminals.  Many  of  our 
prisons,  instead  of  reforming  men  who  have  made 
bad  beginnings  in  life,  have  been  making  hardened 
criminals  out  of  them.  Often,  when  released, 
they  associate  with  youths  who  are  just  getting 
out  into  the  world  and  pass  on  to  them  the  lessons 
in  crime  they  have  learned  while  in  prison.  What 
should  we  say  of  a  hospital  that  released  most  of 
its  patients  uncured  to  go  out  into  the  community 
and  spread  disease  broadcast.'^  ^^ 

There  were  probably  not  less  than  100,000  chil- 
dren before  juvenile  courts  in  1910.  Of  these, 
over  14,000,  most  of  them  boys,  were  committed 
to  reform  schools  and  similar  institutions.^^ 

Juvenile  delinquency  tends  to  become  more 
serious  in  times  of  war.  In  Berlin  in  1915  there 
were  twice  as  many  crimes  committed  by  children 
as  in  1914.  In  England,  in  1917,  juvenile  delin- 
quency had  increased  at  least  34  per  cent  since 
the  war  began. ^^ 

The  development  of  home  economics  and  other 
movements  which  tend  to  strengthen  the  home  life 
will  prevent  much  delinquency;  so,  too,  will  the  pro- 
motion of  supervised  playgrounds,  gymnasiums  and 
swimming  pools,  social  centers  and  club  work  for  boys 
and  girls  in  settlements  and  religious  institutions. 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  15 

On  January  1,  1910,  there  were  111,498  prisoners 
confined  in  the  prisons,  penitentiaries,  jails  and 
workhouses  of  the  United  States.  ^^  If  all  these 
prisoners  were  transferred  to  one  Institution,  an 
area  of  over  seven  square  miles  would  be  necessary 
for  the  building  and  grounds. 

Pioneers  in  prison  reform  have  been  working  for 
years.  Society  now  is  learning  that  the  criminal 
is  a  sick  man  mentally  and  that  the  prison  ought 
to  be  his  hospital.  To  treat  him  as  a  sick  man  is 
less  expensive  in  the  long  run  and  it  is  far  more 
humane.  Public  oflScers  are  beginning  to  see  this. 
Selfish  interests,  prejudice  and  ignorance,  are 
giving  way  to  enlightened  public  opinion.  The 
fight  for  prison  reform  has  begun. 

The  Evils  of  Immigration. — On  Wednesday,  Jan- 
uary 5,  1916,  several  thousand  men  employed  by 
the  Youngstown  Sheet  and  Tube  Company,  in  East 
Youngstown,  Ohio,  struck  for  an  increase  in  wages. 
On  Thursday  there  were  a  few  signs  of  disorder. 
On  Friday,  thousands  were  on  the  streets,  and 
many  were  drinking.  A  large  group  were  massed 
near  a  steel  bridge  which  constituted  the  main  en- 
trance to  the  company's  plant.  This  bridge  was 
in  charge  of  uniformed  guards  employed  by  the 
company.     There  were  signs  of  hostility  between 


10      THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

the  guards  and  the  strikers,  then  some  of  the 
strikers  started  onto  the  bridge  toward  the  guards. 
According  to  one  report,  the  guards  advanced  and 
fired;  the  strikers  retreated  until  they  came  to  a  pile 
of  bricks.  Using  these  for  ammunition,  they 
pressed  back  against  the  guards.  A  general  riot  of 
destruction  followed. 

The  saloons  were  raided,  and  their  doors  and 
windows  broken.  The  rioters  obtained  dynamite, 
threatening,  as  they  said,  "to  blow  East  Youngs- 
town  to  hell!"  They  tried  to  burn  the  enemy's 
plant,  and  they  succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the 
business  section  of  the  town  and  assaulted  the 
firemen  who  tried  to  fight  the  flames.  Eight  were 
killed  and  others  were  wounded;  four  complete 
city  blocks  were  destroyed  at  a  loss  of  $500,000  to 
$1,000,000.  The  next  morning  the  militia  arrived 
and  quiet  was  restored. 

What  was  the  cause  of  this  warfare?  The  op- 
pression of  the  workers  was  one  cause;  the  saloon 
was  another.  An  important  cause  was  the  utter 
failure  on  the  part  of  East  Youngstown  to  Amer- 
icanize its  foreign-born  population.  East  Youngs- 
town has  a  population  of  9,700,  most  of  whom  are 
Poles,  Lithuanians  and  Serbs.  Of  these,  less  than 
five  per  cent  are  registered  voters.     There  were 


Air  Shaft  Opening  of  a  Six-story  Tenement  in  New  York 
People  live  four  stories  below  this  roof.     All  the  light  and  air  they  get 
comes  through  this  slit.     This  kind  of  construction  is  prohibited  in  new 
buildings. 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  17 

nineteen  saloons,  and  not  a  church  of  any  kind 
in  the  town.  There  were  no  night  schools.  When 
the  Superintendent  of  Education  was  reproached 
with  this  fact,  he  replied  that  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion had  refused  to  give  a  dollar  "for  teaching 
foreigners."  ^^ 

In  cities  and  towns  throughout  the  Middle  West 
and  the  East,  there  are  large  groups  of  foreign- 
born  people.  Over  one-quarter  of  the  foreign- 
born  in  Buffalo,  Cleveland  and  Milwaukee,  in 
1910,  were  unable  to  speak  English. 2°  Many  are 
ignorant  of  our  customs.  They  are  underpaid  and 
shamefully  abused.  They  cause  serious  trouble 
in  industry. 

In  the  lower  east  side  of  New  York  City,  dwell 
500,000  human  beings,  most  of  them  immigrants. 
This  is  a  population  greater  than  that  of  Utah  or 
Montana.  In  1910,  there  were  over  10,000  ten- 
ements with  "air-shafts"  furnishing  neither  sun- 
light nor  fresh  air.-^  A  child  living  its  early  years 
in  dark  rooms  without  sunlight  and  fresh  air  grows 
up  anaemic,  weak  and  sickly  like  a  plant  grown 
in  the  dark.  It  is  handicapped  in  school,  in  in- 
dustry, and  in  all  of  its  activities.  Strong  nations 
are  not  made  of  such  material. ^- 

During  the  year  ending  June  30,  1914,  a  million 


18     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

and  a  quarter  persons  came  to  the  United  States 
from  foreign  lands. ^^  This  number  was  equal  to 
the  population  of  the  entire  state  of  West  Virginia 
in  1910.  Of  all  the  problems  before  the  people 
to-day,  the  problem  of  Americanizing  the  immi- 
grant is  one  of  the  most  acute. 

The  public  schools  of  the  United  States  are  doing 
admirable  work  towards  the  Americanizing  of 
immigrant  children.  The  public  schools  of  many 
cities  also  conduct  night  schools  for  adult  immi- 
grants. Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  other  cities  are 
making  systematic  efforts  to  educate  adult  immi- 
grants in  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  The 
effort  must  be  extended. 

Commercialized  Prostitution. — A  girl  of  twenty- 
two  years  married  a  man  of  twenty-six.  About 
a  month  after  the  wedding,  the  bride  was  con- 
fined to  her  bed  with  severe  suffering  and  fever. 
She  was  taken  to  a  physician  who  discovered  that 
she  had  gonorrhoea  (clap).  This  wrecked  her 
health  and  made  her  incapable  of  bearing  children. 
Careful  treatment  produced  but  slight  improve- 
ment, and  finally  a  surgical  operation  was  per- 
formed. This  improved  her  health,  but  she  was 
never  able  to  have  children.  The  husband  ad- 
mitted that  he  had  contracted  a  "mild  gonorrhoea" 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  19 

years  before,  but  had  considered  himself  cured. 
An  examination  showed  the  germs  of  gonorrhoea  in 
him.24 

Thousands  of  girls  become  the  innocent  victims 
of  men  who  have  failed  in  their  youth  to  recognize 
the  seriousness  of  illicit  sex  relations.  Hundreds 
of  women  become  invalids  for  life;  hundreds  re- 
main childless;  other  hundreds  give  birth  to  chil- 
dren who  soon  become  blind  or  who  remain  de- 
fective in  other  ways  all  their  lives. 

While  the  guilty  husband  generally  acquires 
disease  from  a  prostitute,  this  does  not  mean  that 
she  is  primarily  responsible.  The  prostitute,  in 
the  first  place,  is  often  the  innocent  victim  of  men. 
After  girls  take  their  first  few  missteps,  their 
downfall  is  rapid.  They  become  outcasts,  and 
are  accepted  only  in  the  society  of  their  kind. 
For  a  short  time,  the  prostitute's  life  may  be  a  gay 
one,  but  only  for  a  short  time.  It  soon  becomes  a 
hell  on  earth.  Hundreds  of  girls  are  sacrificed  to 
satisfy  the  lust  of  men.  Men  are  largely  to  blame 
for  prostitution  and  for  the  infection  of  innocent 
women  and  children. 

Though  the  guilty  man  may  suflFer  less  than  the 
innocent  woman  and  child  whom  he  infects,  these 
diseases  in  men  are  serious  because  they  render  men 


20      THE   YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

unfit  for  either  civil  or  military  service.  According 
to  a  recent  report  of  the  War  Department,  prob- 
ably one  man  in  five  of  the  class  from  which  re- 
cruits are  drawn  for  the  regular  army  suffers  from 
syphilis.  ^^ 

In  many  cities,  prostitution  still  is  permitted  as 
a  business.  It  brings  in  thousands  of  dollars  in 
profits  to  property  owners,  keepers  of  bawdy- 
houses  and  liquor  dealers.  Various  regulative 
methods  have  proved  ineffective.  The  red-light 
district  is  a  plague  spot,  from  which  are  spread  two 
vile  and  terrible  diseases. 

The  work  of  recently  organized  Social  Hygiene 
Societies  is  focusing  the  attention  of  hundreds  of 
high-minded  men  on  these  problems.  Sex  educa- 
tion and  the  enforcement  of  proper  laws  are  being 
advocated.  It  is  believed  that  much  can  be  done 
to  reduce  prostitution  and  venereal  disease. 
Though  an  encouraging  beginning  has  been  made, 
much  more  will  have  to  be  done,  if  the  women 
and  children  of  the  United  States  are  to  be 
safe. 

Liquor  and  the  Sa/oo/i.— That  alcoholic  liquors 
cause  much  disease,  crime  and  poverty  is  known 
by  many  high  school  students.  The  United  States 
spends  annually  $1,750,000,000  for  liquor.      This 


==  a 


-a 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  21 

amount  of  money  is  almost  beyond  the  grasp  of 
the  mind.  It  would  build  twelve  hospitals  in  each 
of  the  forty-eight  states  in  the  Union  at  a  cost  of 
$600,000  each,  twenty  colleges  in  each  state  at  a 
cost  of  $1,200,000  each,  300  recreation  centers  with 
gymnasiums  and  swimming  pools  at  $500,000  each, 
and  there  would  be  left  over,  $102,400,000  to  pro- 
mote industrial  education. ^^ 

During  recent  years,  the  warfare  against  the 
saloon  has  been  achieving  success.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  1916,  nineteen  states  had  voted  out  the 
saloon.  Reverses  will  doubtless  come  and  there 
will  be  many  hard  fights  before  this  evil  traffic 
is  finally  destroyed.  The  success  of  prohibition  in 
war  time  should  hasten  the  coming  of  permanent 
prohibition. 

The  Disasters  of  Industry. — In  November,  1909, 
fire  broke  out  in  a  coal  mine  at  Cherry,  Illinois. 
There  were  500  men  in  the  mine  at  the  time;  of 
these,  124  escaped.  Then  the  shafts  had  to  be 
sealed  in  an  effort  to  smother  the  flames.  For 
days,  the  wives,  children  and  friends  of  the  en- 
tombed miners  waited  in  fearful  suspense.  The 
militia  were  called.  They  formed  a  human  line 
around  the  mouth  of  the  shaft  to  keep  back  the 
sorrowing  throng  as  it  pressed  towards  the  pit 


22     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

where  their  loved  ones  were  imprisoned.  Miners 
who  had  escaped  threatened  to  seize  the  shaft. 

As  soon  as  it  was  possible  to  make  a  descent  into 
the  mine,  a  party  of  firemen  from  Chicago  led  by 
three  graduates  from  the  Columbia  University 
School  of  Mines  went  down  in  the  cage  and  for  a 
night  and  a  day,  three  hundred  feet  underground, 
they  fought  the  flames.  No  sign  of  life  was  seen; 
the  state  mine  inspectors  gave  up  all  hope  and 
left  the  field.  At  last,  the  rescuers  reported  that 
they  had  discovered  living  men  who  had  walled 
themselves  in  from  fire  and  gas.  Twenty  were 
saved.  For  seven  days  they  had  faced  the  horrors 
of  hell.  Three  hundred  were  found  dead.  They 
sacrificed  their  lives  in  the  coal  industry;  and  the 
widows  and  children  of  most  of  them  were  left 
dependent  on  charity." 

In  December,  1907,  344  were  killed  at  the 
Monongah  mines  in  West  Virginia,  and  228  at 
Jacob's  Creek,  Pennsylvania.  The  waste  of  human 
life  in  industry  is  appalling.  Men,  women  and 
children  are  poisoned,  maimed  for  life  and  killed. 
Human  life  in  America  is  cheap.  There  are  35,000 
killed  every  year  in  the  industries  of  this  country 
and  700,000  injured.-^  Each  one  of  us  enjoys  the 
comforts  of  life  because  of  the  risks  taken  by  the 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  23 

workers  in  industry.  Can  we  comprehend  these 
figures?  They  mean  that  every  day  in  the  United 
States  nearly  one  hundred  are  killed  in  industry  and 
nearly  two  thousand  are  injured — that  one  man  is 
killed  every  fifteen  minutes,  and  that  one  is  injured 
every  minute,  twenty-four  hours  a  day. 

Systematic  efforts  are  being  made  to  protect  the 
worker  in  industry.  Employers  are  now  being 
held  liable  for  accidents,  safety  devices  are  being 
installed,  industrial  insurance  is  being  provided 
by  law.  The  "Safety  First"  movement  is  proving 
effective.  The  slaughter  continues,  however,  and 
hard  work  must  be  done  before  the  workers  will 
be  reasonably  safe.  Every  new  industry  as  it 
springs  up  will  present  new  problems. 

Child  Labor. — On  an  early  winter  morning  long 
before  the  sun  was  up,  two  little  girls,  Mary  and 
Jane  O'Connor,  plodded  along  a  Vermont  mountain 
road.  Each  carried  a  dinner  pail.  They  were  spin- 
ners bound  for  the  cotton  mill.  One  was  fifteen 
years  old ;  she  had  worked  three  years.  The  other 
was  fourteen ;  she  had  worked  two  years.  They  had 
got  up  at  four-fifteen  in  the  morning,  and  had  walked 
two  and  a  half  miles  to  the  mill,  because  they  could 
not  afford  to  ride.  Each  earned  three  dollars  a 
week.     In  the  mill  where  these  children  worked, 


24     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

eighteen  out  of  fifty  employees  were  children  from 
eleven  to  sixteen  years  of  age. 

The  law  in  each  of  the  New  England  States 
forbids  the  employment  of  children  under  four- 
teen except  under  exceptional  circumstances.  But 
laws  are  sometimes  violated.  The  mill  owner  may 
prefer  children  to  adults;  child  labor  is  cheap; 
children  are  docile;  they  seldom  demand  higher 
wages  and  shorter  hours.  The  earlier  the  child 
goes  to  work,  the  more  like  a  machine  it  becomes. 
If  the  little  body  soon  wears  out,  if  the  child  is 
seriously  injured  or  killed,  many  mill  owners 
seemingly  do  not  care.  There  are  other  children 
ready  to  take  its  place. -^ 

In  the  United  States,  nearly  two  million  chil- 
dren between  the  ages  of  ten  and  sixteen  are  em- 
ployed in  various  gainful  occupations.  A  proces- 
sion of  them  advancing  at  the  rate  of  one  per 
minute  day  and  night  would  require  nearly  four 
years  to  pass  a  given  point.  ^° 

In  times  of  war,  children  constitute  the  second  line 
of  national  defense.  If  they  are  taken  from  school 
and  required  to  work  long  hours  in  field  or  factory, 
if  they  are  underfed,  if  they  are  not  guarded  as  the 
nation's  choicest  assets,  when  they  are  needed  later, 
they  will  not  be  prepared  and  the  nation  will  suffer. 


Z     is 


H     ?3 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  25 

Thousands  of  men  and  women  throughout  the 
land  are  interesting  themselves  in  the  cause  of  the 
children  who  toil.  A  definite  campaign  is  being 
waged  against  the  employment  of  children.  It  is 
a  campaign  of  education,  and  a  campaign  for 
better  laws.  In  1916,  an  important  battle  in  the 
campaign  was  won  when  Congress  passed  a  law 
prohibiting  industries  which  employ  children  below 
certain  standards  from  shipping  any  of  their  prod- 
ucts into  other  states. 

Women  in  Industry. — Grace  Brown,  a  sales- 
woman, had  been  at  work  twelve  years.  Though 
earlier  in  life  she  had  earned  as  much  as  twelve  dol- 
lars a  week  in  a  knitting  mill,  the  long  hours  and 
unsanitary  conditions  had  broken  her  health  and 
she  was  now  getting  six  dollars  and  had  given  up 
hope  of  advancement.  She  lived  in  a  furnished 
room  with  two  other  women,  each  paying  one  dol- 
lar a  week  rent.  She  cared  nothing  for  her  fellow 
lodgers,  but  stayed  with  them  to  keep  down  ex- 
penses. She  cooked  her  breakfast  and  supper  in 
this  crowded  room  at  an  expense  of  $1.95  a  week. 
She  said  that  her  "hearty"  meal  was  eaten  in  a 
restaurant  at  noon;  for  this  she  paid  fifteen  cents. 
Her  entire  expenditures  for  the  week  were :  Lodg- 
ing, $1.00;  board,  $1.95;  lunches,  $1.05;  insurance. 


26     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

$0.21 ;  clothing,  contributions  to  church,  occasional 
carfare  and  other  expenses,  $1.79;  total,  $6.00.  For 
fifteen  years  she  had  given  freely  all  her  energies  to 
industry.  Now  she  was  thin  and  worn  from  hard 
work  and  severe  economizing,  though  she  was  only 
thirty-five  years  of  age.  Miss  Brown  praised  the 
firm  for  which  she  worked  for  generosity  in  many 
of  its  policies;  but  she  felt  profoundly  discouraged 
in  not  being  able  to  make  enough  to  enable  her  to 
live  more  decently.  ^^ 

Grace  Brown's  wages  were  six  dollars  a  week. 
What  does  this  amount  of  money  mean.'^  To 
many,  it  means  three  theater  tickers,  gasoline  for 
a  week,  a  pair  of  shoes,  or  the  cost  of  an  evening  at 
bridge.  To  thousands  of  girls  and  women  it  means 
that  every  penny  must  be  carefully  guarded.  If 
more  food  is  needed  than  the  regular  meager 
allowance  provides,  it  must  be  bought  with  the 
money  that  should  go  for  clothes.  If  it  is  nec- 
essary to  buy  a  new  waist  to  replace  the  old  one 
at  which  the  forewoman  has  glanced  reproachfully, 
it  may  be  necessary  to  go  without  lunches  for 
several  days.  Room  rent  must  be  paid  regularly. 
And  behind  it  all  lies  the  chance  of  losing  one's 
position  in  a  slack  season. ^^  Six  dollars  a  week  is 
the  wage  not  merely  of  a  few  women.     Probably 


ENEMIES  OF  THE  NATION  27 

two-fifths  or  more  of  the  women  wage  earners  in  the 
United  States  earn  less  than  six  dollars  a  week.^^ 

In  many  cases,  not  only  are  the  wages  low;  the 
working  day  is  long,  often  ten  hours  and  longer. 
To  hundreds  of  girls,  this  means  weakened  vitality, 
ill-health  and  disease.  They  are  later  unable  prop- 
erly to  fulfil  the  duties  of  motherhood.  Their  chil- 
dren may  be  handicapped  from  birth. 

Hundreds  of  men  and  women,  familiar  with  the 
conditions,  are  attacking  these  evils  with  vigor. 
The  public  conscience  is  being  awakened.  Massa- 
chusetts, Wisconsin,  Oregon  and  a  few  other  states 
have  passed  laws  setting  a  minimum  wage  for 
women  workers;  and  many  more  laws  are  needed. 


CHAPTER  III 

MORE    ENEMIES 

We  have  considered  several  distressing  manifesta- 
tions of  disease,  crime  and  poverty.  We  must  now 
turn  our  attention  to  evils  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  many  economists,  are  more  fundamental. 

Uneinployment.— "Frank  A.  Mallin  went  to  the 
central  police  station  Wednesday  night  and  asked 
to  be  locked  up  on  a  charge  of  vagrancy.  He  said 
he  had  been  conducting  an  unsuccessful  search  for 
work  for  so  long  that  he  was  sure  he  must  be  a 
vagrant.  In  any  event  he  was  so  hungry  he  must 
be  fed."  ^^  Incidents  similar  to  this,  reported  by  a 
San  Francisco  newspaper,  have  not  been  uncom- 
mon during  the  past  few  years. 

"One  family,  in  which  the  wife  was  soon  to  be- 
come a  mother,  had  not  a  scrap  of  food  in  the 
house,"  reported  the  Detroit  Board  of  Commerce, 
in  the  winter  of  1914-15.  "Two  children  had  gone 
two  days  without  food.  The  father  was  out  of 
work."  ^-^  One  man  for  the  sake  of  temporary  relief 
advertised  to  sell  to  a  physician  "all  right  and  title 
to  his  body."  ^' 

28 


MORE  ENEMIES  29 

Two  hundred  and  fifty  men  were  found  huddled 
together  in  four  dark  rooms  of  an  employment 
agency,  where  they  had  to  stand  all  night,  because 
if  they  lay  down  or  sat  up,  some  would  have  to  be 
turned  out.^^ 

Sometimes  one  hears  it  said  that  the  unemployed 
can  get  work  if  they  want  it.  While  it  is  true  that 
there  are  professional  tramps  and  others  who  do 
not  want  work,  these  do  not  make  up  the  great 
army  of  the  unemployed.  Such  sweeping  remarks 
simply  show  how  ignorant  are  the  men  who  make 
them.  It  is  foolish  to  make  such  statements,  when 
often  there  are  ten  men  for  every  available  job. 
Recently  in  Philadelphia  5,000  men  answered  an 
advertisement  for  300  workers  at  the  Philadelphia 
Ship  Repair  Company's  yards.  In  Hartford,  700 
men  and  women  refused  to  leave  the  gate  of  a 
tobacco  warehouse  which  employed  only  twenty- 
four  of  the  entire  number.  In  Atlantic  City,  500 
unemployed  responded  in  a  mad  scramble  to  a 
notice  for  fifty  men  to  do  construction  work — it 
was  necessary  to  call  the  police.  ^^ 

In  unemployment,  we  have  a  most  singular  social 
phenomenon — thousands  of  strong,  able-bodied 
men  wanting  work,  but  unable  to  get  it,  while 
thousands  of  their  women  and  children  suffer  for 


30     THE   YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

the  products  of  their  labor.  Idleness  is  demoral- 
izing to  an  individual,  and  an  idle  nation  inevitably 
drifts  towards  degradation.^^ 

According  to  the  1900  Census,  there  were  over 
735,000  wage  earners  who  lost  from  seven  to  twelve 
months'  time  during  the  preceding  year.^°  Three- 
quarters  of  a  million  men  is  a  large  number. 
They  would  fill  a  city  of  the  size  of  Boston  or  St. 
Louis  without  leaving  any  room  for  their  wives  and 
children.  Yet  every  one  of  them  was  out  of  work 
more  than  half  a  year.  Later  figures  for  the  en- 
tire country  are  not  available,  but,  as  is  well 
known,  conditions  were  much  worse  during  the 
winter  of  1914-15;  nearly  a  half  million  were  un- 
employed in  New  York  City  alone. ^^ 

Men  have  hardly  awakened  to  the  seriousness  of 
unemployment.  It  presents  a  baffling  problem. 
A  few,  however,  are  attacking  it  with  determina- 
tion. Federal  and  state  employment  agencies  are 
endeavoring  to  distribute  the  workers  more  evenly. 
The  co-operation  of  employers  is  being  sought. 
A  beginning  has  been  made,  but  only  a  beginning. 

If  during  war,  and  if  during  unusually  good 
times,  there  is  plenty  of  work  for  all,  we  cannot 
assume  that  the  problem  has  been  solved.  It  will 
recur  until  an  adequate  remedy  has  been  carefully 


MORE   ENEMIES  31 

worked  out.  The  problem  presents  a  challenge  to 
our  ablest  young  men. 

Rural  Poverty. — A  frail  little  woman  with  faded 
eyes  and  broken  body  gave  testimony  in  the  spring 
of  1915  at  Dallas,  Texas,  before  the  United  States 
Commission  on  Industrial  Relations.  Her  dress, 
the  best  she  had,  was  faded  with  many  washings. 
Her  body  quivered  with  nervous  tension.  The 
crowd  listened  eagerly  as  she  told  her  story  in  her 
weak,  thin  voice. 

"Do  you  work  in  the  fields.'^"  she  was  asked. 

"Yes,  ma'am." 

"And  do  you  do  the  housework.^*" 

"There  ain't  no  one  else  to  do  it." 

"And  the  sewing.^^" 

"Yes." 

"Did  you  make  your  sun-bonnet,  too.'^" 

"Yes,  ma'am.  I  make  all  the  clothes  for  the 
children  and  myself." 

"Do  you  make  your  hats.^" 

"Yes'm,  I  make  my  hats.  I  only  had  two  since 
I  been  married." 

"Only  two  hats.?" 

"Yes'm,  two." 

"And  how  long  have  you  been  married.?" 

"Twenty  years." 


32      THE   YOUTH  AND   THE  NATION 

"Do  you  do  the  milking?" 

"Most  always,  when  we  can  afford  a  cow." 

"What  time  do  you  get  up  in  the  morning?" 

"I  usually  gits  up  in  time  to  have  breakfast  by 
four  o'clock  in  the  summer  time." 

"And  after  breakfast?" 

"In  choppin'  and  pickin'  time,  I  work  in  the 
fields." 

"Do  you  cook  the  dinner?" 

"I  generally  leave  the  field  at  eleven  o'clock  to 
get  dinner  ready." 

"What  do  you  do  after  dinner?" 

"I  most  always  goes  back  to  the  field.'* 

"And  then  you  get  supper  too?" 

"Yes'm,  and  do  up  the  dishes.  Then  I  try  to 
do  what  sewing  has  to  be  done." 

"Do  you  have  many  social  gatherings  in  the 
country?" 

"Not  very  often.  We  usually  have  church  once 
a  month." 

"Are  there  any  libraries  in  the  communities  in 
which  you  have  lived?" 

"No'm." 

She  was  the  wife  of  Levi  Stewart.  Together 
they  had  wandered  over  parts  of  Arkansas  and 
Texas.     Life  had  been  a  dreary  struggle.     They 


MORE  ENEMIES  33 

were  seven  hundred  dollars  in  debt  and  had  no 

land  of  their  own.    In  order  to  have  "hands"  for 

picking  cotton,  they  had  tried  to  raise  a  large 
family.42 

The  neglect  and  oppression  of  the  farmer  con- 
stitutes a  grave  social  evil.  People  are  urged  to  go 
"back  to  the  farm,"  when  economic  conditions  in 
the  country  do  not  permit  many  to  make  even  a 
comfortable  living.  Though  most  farmers  are 
sure  of  sufficient  food,  many  do  not  get  much  addi- 
tional income.  In  a  favored  county  in  New  York, 
the  average  income  of  farmers  is  $423  per  year.^^ 

Farm  land  is  being  held  at  higher  prices  than 
most  men  are  able  to  pay  for  it.  The  farmer,  in 
many  places,  is  being  unjustly  taxed.  It  is  diffi- 
cult for  young  men  without  capital  to  start  life  on 
a  farm  of  their  own.  An  increasing  proportion  of 
farmers  are  tenants. 

Pests  often  prevent  profits;  poor  roads  make 
marketing  difficult;  and  when  the  farmer  is  ready 
to  sell  his  crop,  he  is  often  at  the  mercy  of  commis- 
sion merchants.  He  must  accept  what  they  will 
pay  or  nothing  at  all. 

Many  farmers  are  isolated,  and  their  lives  are 
lonely.  In  many  communities,  their  schools  are 
inefficient,   and  their  churches  are  unattractive. 


34      THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

The  farmer's  wife  often  must  work  even  harder 
than  the  farmer.^*  Thousands  of  farmers  toil 
from  morning  to  night  and  are  utterly  unable  to 
make  headway  against  the  drudgery  and  sordid- 
ness  of  their  existence. 

In  recent  years,  efforts  have  been  inaugurated 
to  remedy  these  evils.  The  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture of  the  Federal  Government  has  done  much. 
The  Federal  Rural  Credits  Law,  passed  in  19 IC, 
will  probably  make  it  possible  for  many  farmers 
to  borrow  money  at  reasonable  interest  and  make 
better  progress.  State  legislatures  are  considering 
bills  in  the  interest  of  the  farmer.  Wliere  scientific 
agriculture  is  being  applied,  there  is  dawning  for 
the  farmer  a  better  day. 

Poverty  in  the  City. — Walter  A.  Wyckoff,  a  pro- 
fessor in  Princeton  University,  lived  for  long 
periods  as  a  laborer  in  order  to  learn  the  facts  of 
industry  at  first  hand.  At  a  factory  gate  he  heard 
a  man  applying  for  a  job.  At  home  were  an  old 
mother,  a  wife  and  two  young  children.  The  man 
had  got  jobs  off  and  on  through  the  winter  in  a 
sweat  shop  and  had  made  just  enough  to  keep  them 
all  alive.  "The  boss  had  all  but  agreed  to  take 
him,"  Mr.  Wyckoff  writes,  "when,  struck  evidently 
by  the  cadaverous  look  of  the  man,  he  told  him 


MORE  ENEMIES  35 

to  bare  his  arm.  Up  went  the  sleeve  of  his  coat 
and  of  his  ragged  flannel  shirt,  exposing  a  naked 
arm  with  the  muscles  nearly  gone,  and  the  blue- 
white,  transparent  skin  stretched  over  sinews  and 
the  outlines  of  the  bones.  Pitiful  beyond  words 
was  his  effort  to  give  a  semblance  of  strength  to 
the  biceps  which  rose  faintly  to  the  upward  move- 
ment of  the  forearm."  The  boss  sent  him  off  with 
an  oath  and  a  contemptuous  laugh.  ^^ 

The  New  York  Journal  reported  the  following 
news  item:  "On  a  pile  of  rags  in  a  room  bare  of 
furniture  and  freezing  cold,  Mary  Gallin,  dead 
from  starvation,  with  an  emaciated  baby  four 
months  old  crying  at  her  breast,  was  found  this 
morning  at  513  Myrtle  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  by 
Policeman  McConnor  of  the  Flushing  Avenue 
Station.  Huddled  together  for  warmth  in  another 
part  of  the  room  were  the  father,  James  Gallin, 
and  three  children  ranging  from  two  to  eight  years 
of  age.  The  children  gazed  at  the  policeman 
much  as  ravenous  animals  might  have  done.  They 
were  famished,  and  there  was  not  a  vestige  of  food 
in  their  comfortless  home."  ^^ 

A  laborer  in  New  York  asked  a  question  that 
was  not  answered  at  the  time  and  has  not  yet 
been  answered.    He  was  out  of  work  and  said  he 


36      THE  YOUTH  AND  THE   NATION 

would  take  a  job  in  the  subway  at  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cents  per  day,  as  he  could  find  nothing  else. 
He  had  a  wife  and  three  children  under  twelve 
years  of  age. 

"I'll  take  the  job,"  he  said,  "but  how  in  hell  is 
a  man  to  support  his  family  on  a  dollar  and  a  half 
a  day,  tell  me  that.^"  ^^ 

Working  six  full  days  a  week  for  an  entire  year, 
he  would  earn  $468.  According  to  the  weight  of 
authority,  the  low  limit  of  a  living  wage  for  cities 
of  the  north,  east  and  west  for  a  family  of  five  is 
$650.  Tliis  estimate  is  based  on  a  purely  physical 
standard — "a  sanitary  dwelling  and  sufficient  food 
and  clothing  to  keep  the  body  in  working  order. 
It  is  precisely  the  same  standard  that  a  man  would 
demand  for  his  horses  or  slaves."  What  is  a 
man  to  do  who  can't  possibly  earn  over  $468  in  a 
year,  when  the  very  least  he  can  live  on  decently 
is  $650  a  year.'  '^ 

A  certain  writer,  well  known  for  his  graceful 
style,  has  said  that  the  poor  remain  poor  because 
they  show  no  great  desire  to  be  anything  else. 
Those  who  make  such  statements  show  their 
ignorance  of  conditions.  Thousands  work  from 
morning  till  night,  year  after  year,  at  the  full 
stretch  of  their  powers,  in  an  effort  to  attain  some 


MORE  ENEMIES  37 

degree  of  comfort.  Yet  the  odds  are  against  them. 
They  are  miserable.  Alfred  Marshall,  the  English 
economist,  calls  attention  to  the  large  amount  of 
genius  lost  to  the  nation,  because  it  is  born  in  poor 
children,  where  it  perishes  for  want  of  opportu- 
nity. ^^ 

There  are  great  groups  of  people  who,  through- 
out their  lives,  have  insufficient  food,  clothing  and 
shelter.  They  labor  from  childhood  for  the  bare 
existence  they  are  able  to  sustain.  Savings  for  a 
rainy  day,  wholesome  recreation,  enjoyment  of 
the  world's  achievements  in  literature  and  art 
are  out  of  the  question.  Says  Thomas  Carlyle: 
"It  is  not  to  die,  or  even  to  die  of  hunger,  that 
makes  a  man  wretched;  many  men  have  died;  all 
men  must  die.  .  .  .  But  it  is  to  live  miserable  we 
know  not  why;  to  work  sore  and  yet  gain  noth- 
ing ...  it  is  to  die  slowly  all  our  life  long,  im- 
prisoned in  a  deaf,  dead.  Infinite  Injustice"  ^° — 
this  is  the  essence  of  poverty. 

Suppose  that  a  college  youth  were  thrown 
entirely  on  his  own  resources  with  a  young  wife 
and  three  little  children  and  he  found  he  was  un- 
able to  make  enough  to  provide  a  sanitary  dwelling 
for  his  family  and  sufficient  food  and  clothing  to 
keep  their  bodies  in  good  working  order.    Suppose 


38     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

he  couldn't  provide  for  his  family  the  same  stand- 
ard of  living  one  would  require  for  slaves  or  for 
horses,  what  would  he  do  about  it? 

There  are  not  just  a  few  men  in  this  predicament. 
There  are  probably  ten  million  persons  in  the 
United  States  living  in  poverty.  In  addition, 
there  are  probably  five  million  dependent  upon 
some  form  of  public  relief.  ^^ 

In  New  York's  secondary  schools  have  been 
found  160,000  children  who  "show  the  stigmata 
of  prolonged  undernourishment."  Poverty  kills 
hundreds  of  children  annually  in  the  United  States. 
If  a  foreign  nation  were  to  invade  the  country  and 
kill  a  like  number,  millions  would  be  spent  in 
forcing  a  retreat.^^ 

No  single  campaign  ever  will  eliminate  poverty. 
It  is  a  result  of  ignorance,  disease,  low  wages,  un- 
employment, and  other  causes.  A  vigorous  per- 
sistent warfare  must  be  waged  against  all  these 
evils,  and  a  larger  number  must  enlist. 

The  Luxury  and  Extravagance  of  the  Rich. — 
There  appeared  in  the  daily  newspapers  of  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1916,  the  following  dispatch  from 
Edensburg,  Pennsylvania:  "The  Roman  baths,  the 
sunken  gardens,  cascades,  pergolas,  wide,  rolling 
sweeps  of  green  splotched  with  the  rich  coloring 


$28,000  IS  PAID 
FOR  A  SALT  CELLARl 

Cem  of  Ashburnham  Collection  ] 

Brings  a  Record  Price 

at  Christie's. 


.LEEOSAI 
PiTOMIME  BALI 


$30,500  FOR  A  TOILET  SETiwiaxlne    Elliott   a   statuesque 

Bluebeard     Wife  --  Craig 

VVadsworth  Appears  in 

Persian  Attire. 


$80,000  FOR  A  IIELMET. 

Specimen  of  Art  BouRlit  by  Wldener, 
of  Philadelphia. 

New  York.  February  26. — P.  A.  B. 
Widener,  ot  Philadelphia,  it  was  an- 
nounced to-day,  has  acquired  tho 
famous  Morosinl  helmet,  said  to  bo 
ih*^    finest  epecimen    of    its    kind,    for 


JEWELED  CAT  DINES  OUT 

With    Her    Owner    Looking    Ever    So 
Well  in  a  White  Clawhammer. 
The  guests  in  tlie  Summer  dlniug  room 
ot  the  Waldorf-Astoria  had    their  atten- 
tion' attracted  last  nlsht  by  the  appear- 
ance of  a  tall.  slim,  fair  man  in  a  white 
ckiw  hammer  coat  and  Panama  bat.  who 
black   cjit    wearing   a 'diamond 
[ind'ruby  collar  to  tlie  tblo  with  him  under 
He    was   accompanied   by    two 


WOMEN  SHOW  PET  DOGS 
IN  WALDORF-ASTORIA 


Sawdust  Ring  Laid  Out  for  Judg- 
ing in  the  East  .Room. 


PAYS  W2;800 
FORBOOKATHOESALE 


Competitive  Bidding  to  the  Last 

for    *'  Le     Morte     D'Arthur," 

Translated  from  the  French.. 


ELEVEN  FIRSTS  FOR  LftWSON  ^ 

Adnplfl  from  a  similar  display  in  Ilarprr's  Wcck-ly 

"There  arc  probably  ten  million  persons  in  the  I'nlted  States 
living  in  poverty  " 


!i»<> 


HVSfiA.vo    ASKS    TO    bl:    jailed, 
^VI^E  GOES  TO  hospital. 

'^iS^.c^.^ic^   Ca^  3  I.  /"?/«. 

Woman    Blind    Is    Atso    III,   With    Mate 

on  Vcree  of  In&nnlty  an  lie- 

suit  of  Poverty. 


DIE  OF  STARVATION, 
TOO  PROUD  TO  BEG 


Steven  Farley  and  Wife  Found 

When  Their  Passaic  Home 

Is  Broken   Into. 


Mis.  Ira  Daniels  is  in  the  liospUal  __  .  ,^^  ,»,..^  „,n«x,  ...  , ,.~  .-..^ 

and  her  husband  is  in  jail  on  the  verge  U  HER  DEAD  BODY  IN  HIS  ARMS 

of  insanity  as  a  result  of  extreme  pov 


DISTRESS  OF  POO 
REVEALED  BY  COLM 


Thousands  Out  of  Employmeni 

Appeal  for  Foo(t  and 

Shelter. 


MANY     FAMILIES     ASK     A! 


FAMILY  OF  FIVE  DESTITUTE 

Mother  and  Four  Children  Have  N< 
Means  oC  Support. 

A  mother  and  her  four  little  cliiidrei 
the  younscsl  six  weeks  old  and  tlic 
eldest  four  years,  are  destitute.  Mrs 
ri.  K.  Boudurant,  of  the  Widows*  pen- 
sion  committee,  discovered    the   womai 

fiflOTHER  AND  BABE  STARVE^ 

Autljorities     I'ind      Home     Without 
Food  Enough  for  Family. 

JOLIET.  fit.,  Dec.  23.— Mr.").  William 
Hafner  and  her  new-born  baby  were 
found  dead  in  their  home  on  Bluff 
street  here  today,  and  the  authorities 
gave  starvation  as  the  cause. 


DEPICTS  GIRLS' LIFE 
ON  $5  TO  $T  A  WEEK 


Miss     Packard    Tells    Factory 

Commission  How  Clerks  Feel 

the  Pinch  of  Poverty. 


LUNCH    MONEY.  FOR    SUITS 


"in  the  United  States,  the  richest  nation  in  the  world." 


MORE  ENEMIES  39 

of  rare  flowers  and  all  the  other  luxurious,  ex- 
quisite and  expensive  things  that  will  surround 
'Immergrun,'  the  new  million  dollar  summer  home 

of  ,  which  has  been  started  here,  will  rival 

the  glory  of  any  other  multi-millionaire's  summer 
home  in  America.  The  baths,  encased  in  plate 
glass,  will  cost  $150,000,  many  times  the  cost  of 
the  Roman  baths  of  Lucullus,  the  most  luxurious 
Roman  of  them  all."  ^^ 

Recent  New  York  newspapers  report  a  "Pan- 
tomime Ball,"  at  which  one  society  woman  wore 
gems  worth  $500,000,  also  the  loss  of  a  $15,000 
muff  by  a  New  York  woman  traveling  in  London, 

and  the  sale  of  a  set  of  dishes  to for  $120,000 

to  adorn  his  $7,000,000  Fifth  Avenue  Mansion.'^'' 

While  thousands  of  girls  are  working  long  hours 
in  New  York  City  at  a  wage  insufficient  to  keep 
their  bodies  in  good  working  order,  while  thou- 
sands of  little  children  lack  fresh  air  and  a  little 
space  in  which  to  play,  "a  tall,  slim,  fair  man  in  a 
white  claw-hammer  suit"  dines  at  the  Waldorf- 
Astoria  with  a  black  cat  wearing  a  diamond  and 
ruby  collar,  and  a  former  Philadelphia  girl  returns 
from  Europe  with  a  bulldog  of  ancient  pedigree 
wearing  a  pink  necktie  and  a  ruby  ring  in  its  nose.*^ 
In  a  fashionable  dog  shop  on  Fifth  Avenue  in  New 


40     THE    YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

York,  one  may  buy  a  dog's  dressing  table  for  $150, 
trouserettes,  dressing  gowns,  silk-lined  blankets, 
boots,  stockings,  manicure  sets,  woolen-lined 
muzzles  and  a  variety  of  drugs  especially  prepared 
for  dogs.  One  fashionable  woman  announced  that 
her  pet  poodle,  Spot,  had  cost  her  $17,500  for 
maintenance  the  previous  year,  '"^  Flush  times  have 
led  to  extravagance  and  debauchery.  The  luxury 
of  ancient  Babylon  was  commonplace  compared 
with  conditions  among  certain  rich  classes  in  the 
large  cities  of  the  country. 

The  Inequitable  Distribution  of  Wealth. — From 
earliest  times,  by  fighting,  toiling,  inventing,  mi- 
grating, organizing,  man  has  been  able  to  produce 
a  constantly  increasing  amount  of  wealth.  Man's 
first  foes,  the  wild  animals  of  the  forest,  were  long 
ago  conquered.  Man  domesticated  cattle  and 
made  them  a  source  of  food  supply.  He  learned 
to  till  the  soil  and  got  food  from  it.  He  invented 
machinery,  and  now  he  can  produce  in  one  hour 
food  value  which  before  required  twenty-three 
hours  of  labor."  Before  the  Great  War  there  was 
more  wealth  in  the  world  than  at  any  other  time 
in  history.  Even  to-day  there  is  probably  enough 
for  all.''^  And  yet  in  the  United  States,  the  richest 
nation  in  the  world,  misery  is  gnawing  at  the  vitals 


MORE  ENEMIES  41 

of  society,  hundreds  of  thousands  lack  the  means  to 
keep  their  bodies  in  good  working  order.  In  the 
minds  of  many,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  masses  of  human 
beings  are  any  happier  than  the  cave  men  who 
roamed  wild  in  the  forests  thousands  of  years  ago. 

If  there  is  enough  for  all,  why  must  men  suffer 
for  lack  of  food?  Many  believe  it  is  because  of  an 
unjust  distribution  of  wealth.  As  the  wealth  of 
the  world  has  increased  it  has  become  concentrated 
among  a  few.  The  careful  estimates  of  W,  I. 
King,  Instructor  in  Statistics  at  the  University 
of  Wisconsin,  indicate  that  over  fifty  per  cent  of 
the  wealth  of  the  United  States  is  owned  by  only 
two  per  cent  of  the  people.  ^^ 

These  owners  of  property  have  come  by  their 
wealth  in  various  ways.  Many  have  earned  their 
wealth  by  honest,  hard  work.  Some  have  ac- 
quired large  fortunes  by  dishonest  dealings.  Many 
have  inherited  large  sums  of  money.  Others  have 
become  wealthy  because  they  were  keen  enough 
to  acquire  large  blocks  of  land  in  the  center  of 
young  growing  cities.  As  the  city  developed 
around  their  property,  its  value  increased  to  many 
times  its  cost  price. 

According  to  economic  principles,  much  of  the 
world's  wealth  is  created  by  society.     A  grocery 


42     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

store  in  a  desert  would  not  earn  money  for  its 
owner.  It  must  be  set  up  in  a  community  of 
people  who  need  food.  This  fact  is  so  obvious  that 
its  significance  always  is  not  recognized.  It  is 
largely  the  community  that  makes  a  newspaper 
profitable  for  its  owners.  As  a  community  grows, 
more  persons  buy  newspapers,  and  as  newspaper 
circulation  grows,  advertising  sells  for  more  money. 
So,  also,  as  the  population  of  a  state  increases,  a 
shoe  factory  in  the  state  becomes  more  valuable  to 
its  owners.  A  downtown  lot  would  be  worth  but 
a  few  dollars  without  the  business  which  society 
builds  up  around  it.  Particularly  have  wealthy 
men  been  dependent  upon  the  labor  of  their  em- 
ployees. Without  the  workers  to  serve  customers, 
set  type,  make  shoes,  and  erect  buildings,  men 
with  capital  could  not  reap  great  profits. 

There  is  a  growing  public  sentiment  against  the 
concentration  into  the  hands  of  a  few  persons  of 
the  wealth  created  in  large  measure  by  society. 
Steps  are  being  taken  which  will  enable  society 
to  get  back  for  the  use  of  all  the  people  more  of  the 
wealth  which  it  has  created.  This  is  done  to  some 
extent  now  by  the  income  tax  and  the  inheritance 
tax.  In  1917,  the  Federal  Government  made  a 
substantial  increase  in  its  income  tax.     In  Cali- 


MORE  ENEMIES  43 

fornia  inheritances  of  $500,000  and  over  are  taxed 
twelve  to  thirty  per  cent  by  the  state. ^°  Steps 
also  are  being  taken  which  will  prevent  railroads 
and  other  monopolies  from  making  over  a  certain 
rate  of  interest  on  their  investments. 

When  a  man  in  the  meat-packing  business 
amasses  a  fortune  of  $1,000,000  and  dies,  is  there 
any  good  reason  why  his  son  should  get  all  the 
money,  while  many  of  the  ranch  men  who  raised 
his  cows  and  many  of  the  workers  who  prepared 
the  meat  have  not  enough  to  keep  their  bodies  in 
good  working  order? 

Further  tax  reforms,  higher  wages  in  industry, 
profit  sharing,  and  other  reforms  should  bring 
about  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  the  world's 
wealth. 

Will  the  Nation  Survive? — The  evils  here  dis- 
cussed have  developed  largely  during  the  last  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  Up  to  that  time,  man 
lived  a  comparatively  simple  life.  Then  began 
the  age  of  machinery.  Factories  and  mills  were 
built.  Great  industries  developed.  During  the 
last  thirty  or  forty  years,  there  have  been  more 
mechanical  inventions  than  in  all  the  rest  of  his- 
tory. These  inventions  have  brought  vast  eco- 
nomic changes,  and  have  made  more  complex  all 


44     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

our  social  relations.  To-day,  when  the  general 
manager  of  a  corporation  in  one  city  decreases 
his  output,  a  machinist  employed  by  another 
corporation  three  thousand  miles  away  may  be 
thrown  out  of  work,  his  wife  may  be  driven  into 
industry,  his  new  born  babe  may  die  from  mal- 
nutrition, and  his  fourteen  year  old  boy  may  go  to 
the  reform  school  for  juvenile  delinquency.  The 
manufacturer  thought  (when  he  stopped  to  think) 
that  the  invention  of  machinery  would  increase 
wealth  and  improve  living  conditions.  It  is  agreed 
that  it  has  increased  wealth ;  it  is  doubtful  if  it  has 
improved  living  conditions. 

The  modern  city  has  suddenly  sprung  up  with 
its  overcrowded  populations,  its  armies  of  the  un- 
employed, its  crime,  disease  and  poverty,  and  with 
its  fabulous  wealth,  its  luxury,  and  its  debauchery. 
For  hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  man  lived 
a  simple  life;  now,  a  complex  civilization  has 
developed  which  man  does  not  understand.  Mod- 
ern civilization  has  been  likened  to  a  huge  intricate 
machine  which  society  has  created  almost  over 
night  and  which  threatens  to  wreck  its  construc- 
tor.^^ Blind  forces  are  at  work  which  make 
thoughtful  people  uneasy. 

Greece,  Rome,  and  other  civilizations  rose  to 


MORE  ENEMIES  45 

eminence,  endured  for  three  to  five  hundred  years, 
and  then  succumbed  to  decay  from  within  and  to 
their  enemies  from  without.  Our  nation  is  only  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  old.  Will  it  endure.^ 
Disease,  crime,  poverty,  in  their  many  manifesta- 
tions threaten  our  survival.  They  are  working 
insidiously.  They  are  the  nation's  most  dangerous 
enemies.®^ 


CHAPTER  IV 

SHALL    THE    YOUTH    ENLIST? 

The  young  man  will  reflect  upon  the  conditions 
that  have  been  enumerated,  if  he  is  thoughtful 
and  courageous.  He  will  ask,  why  must  there  be 
so  much  suffering?  What  can  be  done  to  stop  it? 
Can  not  the  government  do  something?  The  most 
important  question  for  liini  to  ask  is — "What  am 
/  going  to  do  about  it?" 

"What  shall  be  my  attitude  towards  disease, 
crime  and  poverty, — the  three  great  enemies  of 
the  nation?  ^Mien  I  choose  my  career  for  life, 
what  shall  be  my  relation  to  those  in  distress? 
Shall  I  ignore  the  great  social  evils,  or  shall  I  enlist, 
in  one  capacity  or  ancjtlicr,  in  the  warfare  against 
them?"  Of  all  questions  Ijefore  youth  to-day,  these 
are  among  the  most  important. 

In  facing  the  problem  of  a  life  occupation,  the 
youth  may  assume  one  of  four  attitudes.  First, 
he  may  frankly  say  to  himself:  My  purpose  in  life 
shall  be  to  make  money;  money  will  buy  anything, 
all  the  pleasures  of  the  world;  and  I  will  get  all  of 
it  I  can.    Secondly,  he  may  say:  In  these  days  of 

40 


SHALL  THE  YOUTH  ENLIST?        47 

competition  when  it  is  difficult  to  get  desirable 
employment,  my  main  purpose  shall  be  to  make 
a  decent  living.  If  I  can  make  enough  to  enable 
me  to  live  with  a  fair  degree  of  comfort,  this  is  all 
I  ask.  In  the  third  place  he  may  say:  What  I 
want  is  to  get  into  something  interesting.  There 
is  so  much  drudgery  in  industry,  so  many  who  do 
one  irksome  task  from  morning  to  night;  if  I  can 
get  into  a  line  of  work  I  can  enjoy,  I  shall  be 
satisfied.  Finally,  he  may  say:  My  purpose  in 
choosing  a  life  work  shall  be  to  find  an  occupation 
in  which  I  may  in  some  way  and  in  some  degree 
reduce  human  misery.  I  shall  have  to  make  a 
living,  of  course,  in  order  to  do  efficient  work;  but 
with  proper  training,  I  shall  have  no  trouble  in 
doing  that.  My  main  purpose  shall  be  to  do  some- 
thing to  aid  in  bringing  to  a  successful  conclusion 
one  or  more  of  the  great  campaigns  against  dis- 
ease, crime,  and  poverty.  Of  these  four  possible 
attitudes  which  one  should  the  youth  adopt?  Let 
us  examine  them  further. 

1.  Should  an  ambition  to  get  rich  he  the  controlling 
motive  in  life? 

A  young  man  devoted  his  life  to  making 
money,  and  he  succeeded.  He  became  the  richest 
man  in  Philadelphia,  and  when  he  died  in  1831, 


48     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

he  had  amassed  a  fortune  of  ten  million  dollars. 
He  married  a  woman  who  subsequently  lost 
her  reason.  He  had  no  children;  he  was  cold  in 
manner  and  was  disliked  by  his  neighbors.  His 
surroundings  were  mean  and  sordid;  his  great 
wealth  brought  him  little  comfort.  Having  no 
family  when  he  died,  he  bequeathed  his  money  to 
various  public  and  charitable  institutes,  to  serv- 
ants and  relatives,  but  while  he  was  alive,  charity 
seems  to  have  had  no  place  in  his  life.^^ 

No  thoughtful,  mature  person  believes  for  a  mo- 
ment that  this  man  was  any  happier  than  thou- 
sands of  men  to-day  who  are  able  to  make  a  com- 
fortable living  on  an  income  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  A  man  with  an  income  of  $600  a 
year  can  multiply  his  comforts  beyond  all  calcula- 
tions by  doubling  his  income.  A  man  with  a  $1,200 
per  year  income  can  increase  his  comfort  by  doubl- 
ing the  amount.  As  the  income  grows  larger,  how- 
ever, a  point  is  soon  reached,  after  which  the  in- 
crease of  comfort  grows  less.  A  point  is  often 
reached  at  which  the  victim  is  satiated  with  every- 
thing that  money  can  buy.  To  expect  him  to 
enjoy  increased  income  is  like  expecting  a  boy  in 
a  candy  store  to  enjoy  more  candy  after  he  has 
made  himself  sick  by  eating  too  much.^^ 


SHALL  THE  YOUTH  ENLIST?        49 

The  money  made  by  this  Philadelphia  man  was 
useful  after  he  died,  but  the  methods  he  used  in 
acquiring  it  were  questionable;  and  it  is  doubtful 
if  the  net  effect  of  his  life  was  beneficial  to  society. 
Of  course,  there  have  been  men  of  unquestioned 
integrity  who  have  become  rich  and  who  have 
done  wonderful  good  with  their  money.  Often, 
however,  the  qualities  of  character  which  have  en- 
abled them  to  acquire  wealth  have,  at  the  same 
time,  so  w^arped  and  shrivelled  their  natures  as 
to  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  be  generous. 
Wealthy  men  have  confessed  that,  while  they  have 
had  impulses  to  do  good  with  their  money,  they 
have  found  it  impossible  to  bring  themselves  to 
the  point  of  actually  parting  with  it.  A  boy  may 
aim  to  acquire  wealth  for  the  power  to  do  good 
that  it  will  bring  him,  but  in  adopting  such  an  aim, 
he  assumes  a  risk. 

Furthermore,  the  good  that  money  will  do  prob- 
ably has  been  exaggerated.  Leaving  one's  children 
any  large  amount  is  a  doubtful  favor.  F.  H.  Goff, 
President  of  the  Cleveland  Trust  Company,  found 
that  many  wealthy  men  in  making  their  wills, 
have  difficulty  in  deciding  what  they  will  do  with 
their  money.^^  William  H.  Baldwin,  Junior,  who 
was  President  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  ob- 


50     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

served  that  rich  men  seemed  unable  to  spend 
wisely  large  sums  of  money.  He  got  this  straight 
from  men  who  had  tried  it.^^  What  men  want  is 
justice,  not  charity.  Workers  are  beginning  to 
suspect  the  motives  of  employers  who  build  club 
houses  for  their  employees  and  conduct  so-called 
welfare  work,  if,  at  the  same  time,  they  are  un- 
willing to  pay  a  wage  that  will  enable  the  worker 
to  support  his  family  in  comfort. 

2.  Should  a  desire  to  make  an  honest  living  be 
one's  chief  purpose? 

The  young  man  who  is  now  in  college  or  high 
school  began  his  school  life  ten  or  more  years  ago. 
Out  of  perhaps  thirty-five  or  forty  boys  who  en- 
tered, there  are  only  a  few  left.  One  had  to 
leave  school  to  help  support  his  family;  another 
preferred  work  to  study  and  got  employment  in  an 
office;  another  took  up  carpentering  with  his 
father.  In  all  probability  only  five  or  six  of  the 
original  thirty-five  or  forty  are  now  in  school 
anywhere.  Taking  the  country  as  a  whole,  of 
those  who  enter  the  elementary  school,  only  fifteen 
per  cent  remain  to  graduate  from  high  school,"  and 
a  still  smaller  proportion  enter  college. 

College  men  and  upperclassmen  in  high  school 
constitute  a  select  group.    They  are  far  better  edu- 


SHALL  THE  YOUTH  ENLIST?        51 

cated  than  the  large  majority.  If  the  aim  of  the 
untrained  man  is  simply  to  make  a  living,  should 
not  the  college  and  high  school  youth  with  su- 
perior educational  advantages,  aim  to  do  more? 
Many  young  men  who  have  not  been  able  to  get 
a  high  school  education  are  making  up  their  minds 
to  do  more  in  the  world  than  simply  to  make  an 
honest  living. 

3.  Should  one's  chief  aim  be  to  find  a  life  work  one 
will  enjoy? 

A  young  man  of  eighteen  or  twenty  years  desires 
to  become  a  civil  engineer.  As  a  boy  of  seven,  he 
laid  many  feet  of  track,  built  bridges  and  tunnels 
in  his  back  yard  and  never  was  so  happy  as  when 
playing  with  his  engines  and  cars.  He  liked  the 
game.  Now,  as  he  faces  the  problem  of  a  life  work, 
he  desires  to  play  the  same  game  on  a  larger  scale, 
because  he  enjoys  it.  Another  youth  desires  to  go 
into  a  retail  business.  As  a  boy  he  enjoyed  buying 
and  selling  samples  of  merchandise  he  collected. 
It  was  a  pleasure  to  handle  even  toy  money.  Now 
he  wishes  to  buy  and  sell  on  a  larger  scale,  because 
he  enjoys  the  game. 

In  each  case  it  is  the  game  which  fascinates — 
the  game  of  the  child,  dignified  by  larger  equipment 
and  generally  rendered  more  serious  by  the  neces- 


52      THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

sity  of  getting  out  of  the  game  a  living  wage — yet 
it  is  the  game,  primarily,  which  absorbs  the  atten- 
tion and  which  sometimes  becomes  the  center  of 
a  man's  existence. 

There  is  nothing  dishonorable  in  playing  this 
larger  game  in  the  business  world.  It  is  entirely 
legitimate  to  want  to  avoid  drudgery  and  find  in- 
teresting work.  If  to  play  this  larger  game  is  one's 
main  purpose  in  life,  however,  has  one  passed  very 
far  beyond  the  interests  and  ideals  of  childhood? 

4.  Should  an  ambition  to  aid  in  the  fight  against 
social  evils  be  one's  chief  purpose  in  life? 

Behind  the  necessity  of  making  a  living,  behind 
enjoyment  in  work,  in  the  lives  of  a  considerable 
number  of  men  there  is  a  larger  purpose.  Anthony 
Ashley-Cooper,  a  student  of  fifteen  years  at  Har- 
row, England,  when  strolling  down  a  hill  near  the 
school,  encountered  a  staggering,  noisy  set  of  men, 
carrying  a  cofiin  which  they  bumped  about  and 
finally  dropped.  They  were  burying  a  pauper. 
The  incident  marked  a  deciding  point  in  his  life. 
He  then  and  there  made  up  his  mind  to  link  his 
life  with  the  lives  of  the  poor  and  to  strike  some 
blow  for  better  living  conditions  among  his  fellow 
men.  At  twenty-one  he  took  his  degree  at  Oxford. 
He  travelled  on  the  continent  observing  closely 


i-*i 


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'ii:  .A  /j^iL 


SHALL  THE  YOUTH  ENLIST?        53 

the  living  conditions  of  the  poor.    Then  he  went 
to  London. 

At  that  time  London  was  sordid  with  poverty. 
Said  Thomas  Arnold  of  Rugby  to  Cooper,  after  he 
had  seen  those  sections  of  the  city  where  vice  and 
crime  flourished  and  after  he  had  observed  the 
awful  conditions  of  the  poor,  "These  classes  form 
the  riddle  of  our  civilization,  and  may  yet  destroy 
us  as  did  the  Vandals  of  old." 

Cooper  gave  his  attention  particularly  to  the 
street  boys  of  London.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and,  later,  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  There  he  worked  for  the  poor.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  George  Peabody,  the  banker,  to 
give  large  sums  of  money  to  improve  living  con- 
ditions. Cooper  is  now  known  as  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury. He  was  a  true  soldier  in  England's  warfare 
against  poverty.^^ 

Lord  Shaftesbury  and  others,  who  will  be  men- 
tioned later,  have  had  the  larger  life-purpose. 
They  have  thrown  their  energies,  in  one  way  or 
another,  into  the  warfare  against  human  misery. 

In  business,  in  medicine,  in  law,  in  engineering 
and  in  every  vocation  the  youth  will  find  oppor- 
tunities to  enlist  in  the  warfare  against  the  evils 
that  threaten  the  nation.     In  every  vocation,  he 


54     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

will  find  vigorous  and  courageous  men  defending 
the  nation  against  these  social  evils.  If  he  is  awake 
to  his  surroundings,  he  must  inevitably  face  the 
problems  of  disease,  crime  and  poverty.  If  he  be 
a  coward,  after  one  look  he  will  turn  aside.  He 
will  be  careful  not  to  come  in  contact  with  human 
misery  again,  for  misery  is  not  pleasant.  If  he  is 
courageous,  he  will  enlist  in  the  fight. 


CHAPTER  V 

CHOOSING   A   LIFE   WORK 

Suppose,  then,  that  a  young  man  decides  that  he 
will  find  an  occupation  in  which  he  can  in  some 
way  and  in  some  degree  check  or  prevent  the  social 
evils  which  threaten  the  nation.  "That  is  settled," 
he  says;  "what  should  I  do  next?" 

He  should,  of  course,  seek  information  regarding 
various  vocations  which  interest  him,  with  the 
purpose  of  determining  in  what  occupation  or  oc- 
cupations he  can  render  the  most  efficient  service. 
He  will  likely  find  that  social  evils  manifest  them- 
selves in  almost  every  kind  of  life  work,  and  that, 
in  almost  every  field,  a  man  must  choose  between 
two  attitudes  towards  them.  He  must  fight  them 
or  become  a  factor,  thoughtlessly  or  otherwise,  in 
their  perpetuation. 

The  important  thing,  therefore,  for  the  young 
man  to  do  next  is  to  consider  to  what  extent  he  is 
likely  to  come  into  contact  with  crime,  disease  and 
poverty  in  the  vocations  in  which  he  is  interested; 
and  to  consider  just  what  he  will  be  able  to  do  in 

65 


5Q     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

these  vocations  to  check  or  prevent  these  evils. 
These  are  the  social  considerations  to  guide  the 
youth  in  his  choice  of  a  vocation. 

Social  Considerations  in  Various  Vocations. — 
Suppose  that  a  boy  goes  to  a  medical  college  and 
becomes  a  physician.  A  call  comes  from  a  home 
in  the  factory  district.  He  drives  in  his  automo- 
bile through  the  congested  streets,  he  passes 
crowded  tenements,  little  children  playing  on  the 
pavements,  and  great  motor  trucks.  He  stops  and 
enters  a  worn  out  dwelling.  He  passes  through 
dark  halls  and  up  a  flight  of  stairs.  Here  in  this 
room  is  the  sick  woman  he  has  come  to  see.  Three 
little  children  are  in  one  corner  of  the  room  making 
paper  flowers  for  which  they  will  receive  a  few 
cents  at  the  factory  round  the  corner.  He  asks  a 
few  questions.  He  quickly  diagnoses  the  case. 
The  woman's  illness  is  due  to  lack  of  good  food 
and  fresh  air.  What  will  he  prescribe.'^  A  good 
beefsteak  every  day.'*  A  little  exercise  in  the  coun- 
try.^ A  nurse  and  a  quiet,  well  ventilated  room.^^ 
What  irony!  The  income  from  making  paper 
flowers  will  not  buy  beefsteak — not  if  the  rent  is 
paid.^^  Will  he  turn  aside  from  such  baffling  situa- 
tions or  will  he  seek  to  discover  how  physicians 
may  improve  these  conditions.'^ 


CHOOSING  A  LIFE  WORK  57 

Suppose  the  youth  enters  the  law.  He  becomes 
the  attorney  for  a  landowner.  Hard  times  have 
come,  and  a  tenant,  out  of  work,  is  unable  to  pay 
his  rent.  His  client,  the  landowner,  asks  him  to 
evict  the  tenant.  What  will  he  do  about  that.^^ 
Later  he  may  become  a  police  justice.  What  will 
he  do  with  the  poor  drunks,  the  prostitutes,  the 
petty  thieves  who  come  before  him.'^  In  later  years, 
he  may  become  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  A 
man  stands  before  him  charged  with  murder;  a 
psychologist  testifies  that  the  prisoner  is  feeble- 
minded. He  learns,  after  the  trial,  that  the  man 
has  five  children,  all  of  them  feeble-minded.  They 
are  likely  to  become  criminals.  What  will  he  do 
about  it.f'  Will  he  ignore  the  underlying  causes  of 
these  various  evils  or  will  he  seek  to  remedy  them? 

Suppose  he  becomes  a  teacher.  He  becomes  the 
principal  of  a  high  school  in  a  small  town.  He 
finds  that  the  boys  are  wasting  their  time  and  their 
energies  in  various  forms  of  dissipation,  and  that 
sexual  immorality  is  prevalent.  They  have  been 
taught  Latin,  but  little  or  nothing  about  the  care 
of  their  own  bodies  and  about  the  function  of  the 
sex  instinct  in  human  life.  They  have  studied 
history,  but  they  know  little  about  the  urgent 
problems  of  modern  life.    The  school  board  is  sus- 


58     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

picious  of  new  methods  in  education.  Will  he  re- 
fuse to  do  anything  to  improve  the  curriculum  for 
fear  of  losing  his  position,  or  will  he  take  risks  and 
make  some  changes  regardless  of  consequences? 

Suppose  the  youth  becomes  an  engineer.  What 
will  be  his  aim  in  life  as  an  engineer.'^  Suppose  he 
is  offered  an  attractive  position  in  the  construction 
of  a  great  water-power  plant.  A  big  manufactur- 
ing corporation  needs  more  power  to  run  its  ma- 
chines; it  proposes  to  take  the  water  above  a 
natural  falls  near  their  factory  and  divert  it  into 
turbines  which  will  generate  thousands  of  horse- 
power. The  falls  is  one  of  the  beauty  spots  of  the 
state.  There  has  been  a  loud  protest  from  citizens 
of  the  state  against  its  use,  but  the  corporation 
has  bought  the  rights  and  doesn't  care  about  the 
protests  from  citizens.  At  the  same  time,  the 
young  man  is  offered  another  position  in  connec- 
tion with  a  great  irrigation  project,  opening  for 
cultivation  a  million  acres  of  land  which  had  pre- 
viously been  useless.    Which  will  he  accept.'* 

Perhaps  the  youth  will  be  a  scientist.  As  a 
chemist,  will  he  work  towards  the  invention  of  a 
horrible  explosive  for  use  in  war,  or  towards  the 
invention  of  a  less  expensive  fuel  that  will  lighten 
the  burdens  of  life  for  thousands  of  workers  .f* 


CHOOSING  A  LIFE  WORK  59 

Suppose  he  becomes  a  farmer.  Will  he  employ 
ignorant  immigrants  for  long  hours  and  pay  them 
the  lowest  wages  he  can  persuade  them  to  accept? 
Will  he  ignore  his  neighbors  and  go  in  his  auto- 
mobile to  the  nearby  city  for  recreation?  Or  will 
he  seek  to  improve  the  conditions  of  labor  on  the 
farm  and  to  stimulate  the  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity? 

Suppose  the  youth  goes  into  business.  Suppose 
that  he  acquires  a  business  of  his  own,  and  that 
he  employs  two  salesgirls.  What  wages  will  he 
pay  them?  He  faces  a  question,  not  of  theory,  but 
of  hard  cold  facts.  He  is  making  little  money. 
How  much  can  he  pay  them?  Only  what  the  law 
requires?  How  many  hours  will  he  require  them 
to  work? 

Suppose  that,  in  later  life,  he  becomes  the  head 
of  a  large  corporation.  Suppose  that  he  gets  a 
salary  of  $10,000  a  year  as  the  company's  presi- 
dent, will  he  also  keep  for  himself  all  he  can  make 
in  dividends?  Or  will  he  adopt  a  plan  whereby 
he  can  share  the  profits  with  his  employees,  whose 
hard  work  has  made  his  success  possible?  Will  he 
require  his  employees  to  work  in  dark,  ill-ventilated 
rooms,  or  will  he  provide  light  and  fresh  air  and 
make  their  surroundings  attractive?    Will  he  use 


60     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

dangerous  machinery  and  employ  skillful  attorneys 
to  protect  him  from  damage  suits  when  accidents 
occur;  or  will  he  use  modern  protective  devices 
and,  when  unavoidable  accidents  happen,  pay  a 
liberal  compensation  to  the  men  who  are  injured? 
Will  he  pay  starvation  wages  or  the  wages  he 
would  wish  his  own  son  to  get? 

The  thoughtful  youth  must  not  only  consider 
the  question  of  attitude  towards  povert3%  crime 
and  disease,  in  the  vocations  which  interest  him; 
he  must  also  understand  that  the  different  occu- 
pations have  different  social  values. 

Suppose  that  it  seems  wise  for  a  bo}^  to  go  to 
work  at  the  end,  or  even  before  the  end,  of  his  high 
school  course.  Suppose  he  tries  to  find  employ- 
ment, and  an  employment  agency  sends  him  to 
several  business  houses.  At  the  end  of  a  long 
search  for  work,  two  positions  are  offered  him.  One 
position  is  with  a  patent  medicine  firm.  This  com- 
pany makes  a  soothing  syrup  for  babies  which  has 
been  condemned  by  health  officers  on  account  of 
a  harmful  drug  it  contains,  though  the  law  does 
not  forbid  its  manufacture.  The  offices  of  the 
company  are  in  a  fine  new  down-town  office  build- 
ing; the  officers  seem  to  be  gentlemen;  all  the 
clerks  and  stenographers  are  bright,  nice  looking 


CHOOSING  A  LIFE  WORK  61 

young  men  and  women;  a  new  up-to-date  business 
system  lias  recently  been  installed;  the  salary 
offered  is  $65  a  month. 

The  other  position  is  with  a  large  dairy  company. 
It  is  trying  to  sell  to  the  public  pure  rich  milk  at 
the  same  price  that  others  charge  for  an  inferior 
grade.  The  company's  offices  are  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  city,  a  half  mile  from  any  car  line.  The 
officers  and  employees  are  plain,  but  enterprising 
men  and  women.  The  office  equipment  is  some- 
what out  of  date;  the  company  hopes  to  change 
it,  but  thus  far  has  not  been  able  to.  The  salary 
offered  is  $50  a  month. 

Both  positions  have  been  definitely  offered  the 
youth,  and  there  is  little  hope  of  other  openings. 
^Miich  position  should  he  take.'^  In  case  he  likes 
business  life  and  is  successful,  in  which  business 
would  he  like  to  grow  up.'^ 

Every  business  has  a  social  utility.  The  man 
who  manufactures  wholesome  food,  durable  cloth- 
ing, substantial  furniture,  useful  books,  depend- 
able building  material  and  honest  tools  for  me- 
chanic, surgeon,  or  scientist  is  a  constructive  factor 
in  the  economic  and  social  life  of  mankind.  The 
manufacturer  of  whiskey,  injurious  medicine  or 
adulterated  food,  and  the  promoter  of  fake  mining 


62     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

schemes  and  fraudulent  real  estate  enterprises  are 
destructive  forces  in  human  life. 

In  any  occupation,  the  youth  may  be,  uncon- 
sciously or  deliberately,  an  opponent  of  social 
progress,  or  he  may  be  an  effective  fighter  in  the 
warfare  against  crime,  disease  and  poverty.  In 
every  vocation,  if  he  is  alert,  he  will  face  perplexing 
problems  such  as  have  just  been  referred  to. 
These  problems  will  suggest  to  the  youth  oppor- 
tunities for  service.  As  he  sees  in  the  court  room 
the  murderer  whose  parents  are  feeble-minded,  as 
he  contemplates  the  ravages  of  sex  diseases,  as  he 
hears  the  cry  of  the  children  in  factories  and  foul 
tenements,  as  he  studies  the  many  manifestations 
of  crime,  disease  and  poverty,  there  should  come 
to  him  a  conviction  that  here  in  this  or  that  par- 
ticular field  of  work  he  will  find  his  greatest  op- 
portunity. 

Considerations  of  Special  Fitness. — Before  the 
youth  decides  finally  upon  a  particular  vocation, 
he  must  know  that  he  possesses  the  essential  qual- 
ities for  success  in  that  vocation.  To  discover  for 
what  occupation  he  is  best  fitted  may  take  con- 
siderable time.  A  man  cannot  judge  from  the 
bumps  on  a  boy's  head  that  he  is  fitted  for  any 
particular  vocation.    No  vocational  expert  will  at- 


CHOOSING  A  LIFE  WORK  63 

tempt,  after  asking  a  young  man  only  a  few  ques- 
tions, to  advise  him  definitely  regarding  his  life 
work.    There  is  no  short  cut  to  a  wise  decision. 

To  acquire  the  knowledge  necessary  to  a  judi- 
cious choice,  the  youth  should  proceed  along  three 
different  lines  of  inquiry. 

In  the  first  place,  he  should  discuss  with  a  num- 
ber of  men  actually  engaged  in  the  occupation  he 
desires  to  enter,  its  opportunities,  and  difficulties, 
and  the  particular  qualifications  necessary.  It 
would  be  well  to  make  a  list  of  the  qualities  which 
they  agree  are  essential.  Further  aid  may  be  had 
from  a  few  good  books  on  vocations.* 

Secondly,  he  should  talk  frankly  with  his  par- 
ents, his  teachers  and  other  friends  who  know  him 
well,  in  order  to  determine  whether,  in  their  opin- 
ion, he  possesses  these  essential  qualities.  If  the 
youth  wishes  to  become  an  engineer  and  his  friends 
agree  that  he  has  but  little  mathematical  ability, 
he  probably  should  drop  engineering  as  a  prospec- 
tive vocation,  unless  he  can  strengthen  himself  at 
this  weak  point.  If  his  friends  disagree  regarding 
his  qualifications,  he  may  have  to  act  as  his  own 
judge. 

*  See  book  list  on  page  170  for  a  list  of  selected  books  on  the 
choice  of  a  vocation. 


64      THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

Finally,  it  is  well  for  the  young  man  to  obtain, 
if  possible,  some  actual  experience  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  choice  before  making  a  definite  decision. 
If  he  wishes  to  enter  business,  let  him  work  in 
several  different  commercial  positions.  If  he 
wishes  to  become  a  physician,  let  him  get  some 
kind  of  a  job  in  a  physician's  office  or  in  a  hospital, 
even  though  the  pay  is  small.  In  case  he  wishes  to 
enter  the  law,  it  would  be  profitable  for  him  to 
get  work  in  a  lawyer's  office  for  a  few  weeks,  even 
though  he  were  to  receive  no  financial  compensa- 
tion. If  he  wishes  to  become  a  civil  engineer,  he 
should  endeavor  to  get  work  as  a  member  of  a 
surveying  crew.  In  case  he  is  considering  agri- 
culture, he  should  have  little  or  no  difiiculty  in 
getting  farm  work  during  a  summer  vacation.  If 
the  youth  is  considering  several  vocations,  it  would 
be  useful  for  him  to  get  some  experience  in  all  of 
them.  Knowledge  obtained  through  actual  con- 
tact with  a  vocation  places  one  in  a  much  better 
position  to  make  a  wise  choice,  than  does  the 
reading  of  many  books  about  that  vocation. 

A  testing  out  of  this  kind,  however,  need  not  be 
considered  final.  Even  though  the  advice  of 
friends  and  actual  experience  indicate  that  a  boy 
lacks  a  certain  quality  necessary  to  success  in  a 


CHOOSING  A  LIFE  WORK  65 

particular  vocation,  perhaps  that  quaHty  may  be 
won.  Most  qualities  may  be  achieved  by  earnest, 
persistent  endeavor.  If  a  youth  is  enthusiastic  to 
enter  some  particular  vocation,  if  he  is  willing  to 
work  and  work  hard  to  achieve  his  ambition,  few 
obstacles  will  be  great  enough  to  turn  him  aside. 
The  things  which  count  most  are  these — a  deep 
interest  in  the  vocation  chosen,  hard  work,  and  a 
determination  to  succeed. 

Friends  may  help  a  boy  by  calling  his  attention 
to  various  considerations  in  the  choice  of  a  voca- 
tion; but  when  the  time  for  decision  comes,  no 
one  can  act  for  him;  he  must  make  his  own  choice. 
The  boy  who  is  unable  to  decide  definitely  regard- 
ing his  life  work  after  repeated  efforts  to  reach 
a  decision,  should  not  worry.  It  sometimes  takes 
years  for  important  qualities  to  develop.  In  fact, 
if  a  boy  can  arrange  to  go  to  college  and  take  a 
general  course,  he  should  deliberately  refrain  from 
making  a  final  decision  while  in  high  school.  If 
he  selects  his  college  studies  wisely,  he  will  acquire 
in  college  new  ideas  of  life  which  will  enable  him 
to  make  a  wiser  choice  than  would  otherwise  be 
possible. 

In  general,  it  is  desirable  for  a  youth  to  inform 
himself  thoroughly  and  make  at  least  a  conditional 


66     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

choice  before  the  age  of  eighteen  or  twenty.  He 
will  then  be  able  to  concentrate  his  energies  in 
preparing  himself  for  a  life  work.  To-day,  thorough 
training  is  essential  for  the  highest  success,  and 
it  is  well  to  begin  training  as  early  as  possible. 

The  engineer,  the  physician,  the  lawyer,  the 
business  man,  the  farmer,  the  worker  in  industry, 
the  journalist,  the  minister,  the  scientist — all 
have  opportunities  to  fight  disease,  crime  and 
poverty.  If  the  youth  has  decided  that,  regardless 
of  consequences,  he  will  aid  in  this  warfare,  he 
will  choose  the  vocation  in  which  he  can  fight 
most  advantageously  and  for  which  he  seems  best 
fitted.  He  will  test  each  vocation  which  appeals 
to  him  by  this  question — Precisely  what  good  can 
I  accomplish  in  this  occupation.'^ 

The  question  calls  for  clear  thinking. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PREPARATION   FOR   LIFE   WORK 

If  the  youth  is  to  be  an  eflScient  fighter  in  the  war- 
fare against  disease,  crime  and  poverty,  he  must 
train  and  keep  himself  in  condition.  He  must 
prepare  himself  thoroughly.  If  he  is  to  stand  the 
strain  of  strenuous  endeavor,  he  must,  of  course, 
have  a  strong  healthy  body  and  if  he  is  to  render 
intelligent  service,  he  must  naturally  have  a  trained 
mind.  Both  physical  and  mental  preparation 
are  necessary. 

Physical  Preparation. — The  youth  should  seek 
first  to  develop  physical  vigor.  To  be  in  training, 
to  get  the  body  into  the  best  possible  physical  con- 
dition, to  keep  fit,  is  the  ambition  of  most  young 
men  and  boys.  The  human  body  is  a  marvelous 
organism.  It  is  delicately  adjusted,  yet  it  will 
stand  severe  strain — a  football  game,  a  hard  day's 
work,  nervous  tension  in  business  emergencies,  the 
stress  of  a  strenuous  political  campaign,  if  it  be 
kept  in  good  condition. 

By  intensive,  specialized  training  a  man  may 

67 


68     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

become  a  record  breaker  in  the  quarter-mile  run. 
But  the  custom  of  training  a  few  months  each  year 
for  some  particular  kind  of  athletics  is  short- 
sighted compared  with  the  custom  of  training  for 
manhood.  A  wiser  way  is  to  keep  in  the  best 
possible  condition  all  the  time.  The  thing  to  be 
achieved  is  that  excellent  condition  known  as 
fitness — fitness  for  athletics,  for  work,  for  any 
task  that  a  man  may  be  called  upon  to  perform.^'' 

So  to  keep  in  condition  necessitates  careful  atten- 
tion to  exercise,  air,  rest,  food  and  the  sex  life. 
Carelessness  at  any  one  of  these  points  may  be 
fatal.  Only  when  the  youth  trains  himself  along 
these  five  lines  will  he  achieve  his  maximum  vigor. 

Exercise  must  be  participated  in;  sitting  in  the 
grandstand  will  not  help  much  in  developing 
health  and  vigor.  Hiking,  baseball,  rowing, 
canoeing  and  skating  in  the  open  air  are  excellent 
exercises.  Swimming  is  excellent  when  used 
moderately.  Football,  basketball  and  track 
athletics  are  good  when  one  trains  carefully  for 
them.  For  the  sake  of  health,  the  time  to  stop 
exercising  is  when  slightly  tired,  not  when  ex- 
hausted. After  exercise,  a  quick  shower  bath 
should  be  taken,  first  with  hot  water  and  soap, 
then  with  cold  water.    A  vigorous  rubdown  with 


PREPARATION  FOR  LIFE  WORK     69 

a  coarse  towel  should  follow.  Exercise  should  be 
taken  daily. 

Fresh  air  is  one  of  the  most  beneficial  gifts  of 
nature;  it  is  given  freely;  it  is  the  one  cure-all, 
more  valuable  than  medicine  and  the  skill  of 
physicians,  yet  many  of  us  shut  it  out  of  our 
houses.  Every  one  should  live  as  much  out  of  doors 
as  possible,  keep  the  air  indoors  fresh,  and  sleep 
in  the  fresh  air. 

SuflScient  rest  is  essential  to  health  and  vigor. 
During  the  day's  activities  fatigue  poisons  are 
manufactured.  These  are  cast  off  during  sleep 
and  the  body  recuperates.  If  sufficient  sleep  is  not 
provided,  these  poisons  may  accumulate  and  cause 
sickness.  Most  youths  between  the  ages  of  seven- 
teen and  twenty-one  need  from  eight  to  nine  and 
one-half  hours  sleep  each  night. 

Wholesome  food  is^as  necessary  to  the  body  as 
is  good  coal  to  a  fine  machine.  The  youth  should 
avoid  fads  and  eat  plenty  of  wholesome  food. 
He  should  eat  chiefly  fresh  vegetables,  cereals, 
bread  and  butter,  eggs  and  fruit  with  a  little  meat 
or  fish  once  a  day.  He  should  drink  milk  instead 
of  coffee  and  other  stimulants,  and  chew  his  food 
to  a  pulp. 

The  control  of  the  sex  life  is  important  to  the 


70     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

achievement  of  health  and  vigor.  The  sex  glands 
manufacture  an  important  secretion  which  is  ab- 
sorbed by  the  blood.  The  blood  takes  this  secre- 
tion to  the  muscle  and  the  brain  and  to  all  parts 
of  the  body.  It  aids  greatly  in  the  development 
of  muscular  strength,  energy,  endurance  and 
courage.  Any  interference  with  this  work  is  a 
risk.* 

The  sex  instinct  in  human  life  is  a  source  of 
strength  and  of  richer  and  fuller  life  if  it  be  con- 
trolled and  directed  into  constructive  channels. 
If  it  controls  the  man  and  makes  a  beast  of  him, 
if  he  indulges  in  vice,  it  will  prove  a  destructive 
force,  and  may  cause  disease  and  suffering  for  him- 
self and  for  his  wife  and  children.  The  sex  in- 
stinct should  not  be  suppressed,  however.  It 
should  be  controlled  and  directed  into  the  service 
of  mankind.  Devotion  and  loyalty  to  a  noble 
cause,  effective  service  in  the  warfare  against  the 
enemies  of  man  is  possible  in  high  degree  for  the 
man  who  lives  clean  and  controls  his  sex  life.f 

*  Emissions  at  night,  wliich  begin  at  fifteen,  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years  of  age,  should  not  be  confused  with  this 
work  of  building  up  the  body.  Emissions  at  night  are  natural, 
if  they  are  not  too  frequent. 

t  See  list  of  books,  page  170  for  furtlier  information  upon 
physical  training. 


PEEPARATION  FOR  LIFE  WORK    71 

Mental  Preparation. — Not  only  should  the  youth 
so  arrange  his  daily  life  as  to  provide  for  the  de- 
velopment of  his  body,  he  should  also  turn  his 
attention  to  his  intellectual  development.  He 
should,  of  course,  take  a  full  course  of  study  in 
high  school,  if  this  is  possible,  and  make  the  most 
of  his  opportunities  there.  In  addition,  he  should 
acquire  more  knowledge  of  human  life  than  a  high 
school  boy  usually  gets  in  his  regular  course  of 
study.  True  conceptions  of  life  are  not  found  in 
many  popular  novels.  They  may  be  found  in  the 
biographies  of  those  who  have  lived  close  to  hu- 
manity, and  in  great  poems,  novels  and  drama. 
The  true  facts  of  life  may  also  be  found  in  the 
social  sciences. 

In  the  natural  sciences — botany  and  zoology — 
we  find  that  certain  organisms,  when  exposed  to 
light,  will  be  repelled,  and  that  other  organisms 
will  be  attracted.  We  find  that  under  a  certain 
temperature,  a  certain  degree  of  moisture,  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  light,  an  organism  will  grow  rapidly. 
With  the  aid  of  chemicals  and  laboratory  equip- 
ment, we  discover  how  microscopic  organisms 
behave  in  their  environment.  Experimentation 
and  study  of  this  kind  is  fascinating. 

Many  believe  that  it  is  still  more  important  to 


72     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

study  human  life  in  a  scientific  manner.  For  this 
purpose,  we  have  the  social  sciences — economics, 
politics  and  sociology.  In  economics,  the  student 
discovers  the  facts  about  wealth  and  income,  and 
their  distribution.  In  politics,  he  studies  the 
science  of  government.  In  sociology,  the  social 
scientist  finds  that,  under  a  certain  degree  of 
temperature,  a  certain  degree  of  humidity,  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  food,  and  a  certain  quality  of  air, 
a  thousand  little  babies  weaken  and  die.  He  finds 
that  a  twelve  year  old  boy  in  the  city  slum  responds 
to  his  environment  in  a  particular  manner — he 
becomes  a  juvenile  delinquent.  In  this  manner, 
men  have  begun  scientifically  to  study  modern 
society — that  great  intricate  machine  which 
threatens  to  wreck  itself. 

Books  on  politics,  economics  and  sociology  are 
not  now  popular  among  young  men,  but  they 
easily  can  be  obtained  at  libraries  and  book  stores. 
If  a  young  man  is  interested  in  any  aspect  of  pov- 
erty, crime  or  disease,  he  usually  can  find  con- 
siderable reading  matter  on  the  subject  in  books 
and  also  in  magazines,  if  he  knows  where  to  look. 
Indexes  of  current  magazine  articles,  such  as  are 
found  in  most  libraries,  of  course,  are  useful;  book- 
sellers and  librarians  usually  are  glad  to  be  help- 


PREPARATION  FOR  LIFE  WORK    73 

ful.*  The  nation  needs  young  men  who  will  set 
themselves  to  the  intellectual  task  of  solving  at 
least  one  modern  social  problem,  even  though  it 
may  not  be  one  of  the  most  important, — men  who 
will  stay  with  their  task  until  they  have  thought 
it  through,  determined  upon  a  plan  of  activity, 
and  carried  their  plan  into  successful  action. 

A  greater  need,  however,  in  the  warfare  against 
man's  enemies  is  leadership,  and  the  youth  who 
would  become  a  leader  will  do  well  to  continue  his 
education  in  college.  The  subjects  of  the  college 
curriculum — social  science,  history,  literature, 
natural  science,  psychology  and  philosophy — will 
train  him  for  more  intelligent  service  and  they 
will  train  him  also  for  leadership.  A  business- 
college  course  may  be  completed  in  a  few  months; 
correspondence  schools  offer  many  brief  courses; 
short  cuts  to  an  education  are  widely  advertised. 
For  careers  of  large  usefulness,  however,  such 
training  is  manifestly  inadequate.  Whether  or 
not  a  professional  training  is  desired,  if  one  is  to 
be  a  leader,  one  should  get  an  education  in  a  college 
of  Arts  and  Sciences.  The  leading  schools  of  law 
and  of  medicine  now  make  the  degree  of  Bachelor 

*  The  titles  of  a  few  elementary  books  on  economics  and 
sociology  can  be  found  on  page  169. 


74     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

of  Arts  a  requirement  for  admission.  Training 
for  leadership  requires  time.  A  baseball  pitcher, 
as  has  been  well  said,  ripens  early,  but  a  Supreme 
Court  Justice  is  a  more  mature  product.''^ 

To  get  the  most  useful  education  from  a  college 
career,  the  young  man  must  choose  his  college 
carefully.  Some  institutions  have  not  yet  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  the  social  sciences  and 
fail  to  offer  a  wide  range  of  courses  in  this  field. 
Economics,  sociology,  history,  psychology,  social 
psychology  and  social  philosophy  are  important 
for  the  man  who  would  serve  the  nation  in  the 
warfare  against  modern  social  evils.  If  the  youth 
will  study  the  catalogs  of  various  institutions,  he 
should  be  able  to  find  one  in  which  he  can  get  the 
kind  of  training  he  wants. 

There  are  not  only  advantages  in  spending  four 
years  in  college;  there  are  also  dangers.  There  is 
the  danger  of  becoming  theoretical  and  academic 
and  of  losing  contact  with  the  world  of  reality. 
A  man,  to  become  really  useful,  should  avoid  the 
seclusion  of  college  life.  Sometimes  it  is  best 
for  a  boy  to  work  a  year  or  more  before  entering 
college,  in  order  that  he  may  get  into  contact 
with  the  real  problems  of  modern  life.  Always  it 
is  desirable  that  he  take  part  during  his  college  life 


PREPARATION  FOR  LIFE  WORK    75 

in  activities  outside  of  the  institution.  Social 
settlement  work  is  helpful  and  is  feasible  for  some 
young  men.  Employment  in  the  industries  of 
either  city  or  country  during  vacations  may  be 
stimulating  to  one's  intellectual  development. 
And  frequently,  young  men  who  are  compelled 
through  lack  of  funds  to  work  during  the  college 
year  make  the  best  students  and  get  the  most 
from  their  education. 

There  is  also  the  danger  of  becoming  shallow. 
In  a  large  number  of  colleges  and  universities, 
many  of  the  students  live  frivolous  lives.  They 
attend  college  largely  to  have  a  good  time,  and 
they  create  social  standards  which  are  pernicious. 
The  bad  habits  which  many  learn  during  their 
first  year  in  such  institutions  more  than  offset  the 
good  derived  from  their  books  and  professors. 

There  are  too  many  men  who  go  to  college  only 
for  entertainment,  who  fritter  away  their  time 
and  their  energies  with  shallow,  useless  activities, 
the  playthings  and  the  tinsel  of  college  life.  There 
are  enough  men  who  become  students  merely  for 
the  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  the  exercise  of  their 
mental  faculties.  Their  aim  in  study  is  personal 
gratification;  their  motives  are  wholly  selfish. 
We  want  men  who  can  feel  the  zest  of  strenuous 


76     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

mental  effort,  men  who  can  say  with  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing, "If  heads  that  think  must  ache,  perforce,  then 
I  choose  headaches."  But  this  is  not  sufficient. 
The  need  to-day  is  for  students  who  have  the  cour- 
age to  grapple  with  the  intricate  and  baffling 
problems  of  human  society,  and  who  are  brave 
enough  to  carry  out  in  their  own  lives  the  con- 
clusions of  their  study. 

None  but  the  serviceable  man  can  rightfully  be 
called  successful.  A  college  education  is  largely 
a  gift  from  society.  Students  pay  only  a  small 
proportion  of  its  cost.  The  man  who  uses  his 
college  education  for  selfish  ends,  is  not  even  play- 
ing fair.  The  most  successful  college  men  are 
those  who  go  out  from  college  to  give  their  lives 
to  the  struggle  against  the  social  evils  which 
threaten  the  nation. 


CHAPTER  VII 

DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION IN  THE  PROFESSIONS 

If  a  consideration  of  the  perplexing  problems 
which  have  been  suggested  leaves  the  youth  dis- 
couraged, let  him  turn  to  the  lives  of  the  great  men 
who  have  achieved  success  in  the  vocations  in 
which  he  is  interested.  Every  youth  should  know 
the  men  in  such  vocations  who  have  been  coura- 
geous and  effective  in  fighting  disease,  crime  and 
poverty.  They  need  not  be  men  whom  he  would 
imitate  in  every  particular.  They  should  be  men 
who  have  loved  humanity,  who  have  stood  for 
justice  and  honesty  and  who  have  fought  with 
vigor  and  courage  the  social  evils  of  modern 
civilization.  The  achievements  of  a  few  such  men 
will  be  briefly  related.* 

A  Physician. — Walter  Reed  was  graduated  from 
the  University  of  Virginia  Medical  School  at  the  age 
of  eighteen,  and  spent  six  years  in  New  York  in  vari- 
ous hospitals.    He  obtained  a  position  in  the  medi- 

"  See  list  of  books,  page  169,  for  biographies  of  other  useful 
men. 

77 


78      THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

cal  corps  of  the  army  and  went  to  camp  Apache, 
in  Arizona,  seven  hundred  miles  from  a  railroad. 
There,  he  was  called  upon  to  attend  settlers  for 
many  miles  around.  At  one  time,  when  he  him- 
self was  ill  with  fever,  he  insisted  upon  responding 
to  all  urgent  calls.  Not  strong  enough  to  dress 
himself  without  sitting  down  repeatedly,  he  would 
start  out  when  the  temperature  was  far  below 
zero.  He  was  devoted  to  his  humblest  patients. 
After  thirteen  years  of  western  life,  he  returned 
to  the  East  and  continued  his  study,  specializing 
in  pathology  and  bacteriology.  When  in  1900, 
yellow  fever  appeared  among  the  United  States 
soldiers  stationed  at  Havana,  Cuba,  Dr.  Reed 
was  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  to  study 
this  plague.  At  that  time  no  one  knew  in  what 
way  it  was  transmitted.  There  were  several 
theories — one,  that  the  fever  tainted  the  air, 
another,  that  it  was  conveyed  by  contact  with  a 
patient  or  with  a  patient's  clothing  and  another, 
that  the  mosquito  carried  the  germs. 

Dr.  Reed  accepted  the  appointment  and  went 
to  Cuba  to  carry  on  the  work.  A  series  of  ex- 
periments were  carefully  arranged.  Privates 
John  Kissinger  and  John  Moran  from  the  army 
volunteered    their   services.      Reed   carefully   ex- 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       79 

plained  that  the  experiments  would  involve  the 
risk  of  their  lives.  They  refused  any  financial 
reward.  When  preparations  were  completed  they 
entered  a  mosquito-infested  house  prepared  for 
them,  were  bitten  and  contracted  the  disease.  No 
less  courageous  were  Dr.  Cooke  and  Privates  Folk 
and  Jernigan  who  exposed  themselves  to  soiled 
sheets  and  other  articles  which  had  been  used  by 
yellow  fever  patients.  As  far  as  they  knew,  such 
exposure  constituted  an  even  greater  risk  than 
being  bitten  by  mosquitoes.  Associated  with  Dr. 
Reed  were  Doctors  James  Carroll,  Jesse  Lazear  and 
A.  Agramonte.  With  more  than  the  courage  and 
devotion  of  soldiers,  all  risked  their  lives.  Dr. 
Lazear  died;  the  other  survived. 

The  experiments  proved  conclusively  that  yellow 
fever  is  spread  solely  by  the  bite  of  the  "stego- 
myea"  mosquito.  With  this  knowledge,  the 
United  States  has  been  able  virtually  to  stamp  out 
the  plague. 

When  Dr.  Reed  realized  that  his  experiments 
were  drawing  to  a  successful  close,  he  wrote  to  his 
wife  that  he  could  shout  for  very  joy  that  Heaven 
had  permitted  him  to  make  this  discovery.  Later 
he  wrote, 

"The  prayer  that  has  been  mine  for  twenty 


80     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

years,  that  I  might  be  permitted  in  some  way  or 
at  some  time  to  do  something  to  alleviate  suffer- 
ing, has  been  granted!  "  ^- 

Wilfred  T.  Grenfell,  a  young  English  physician, 
in  looking  for  a  field  of  usefulness,  decided  to  go 
to  Labrador.  There  he  found  the  fisher-folk  in 
destitution  and  misery.  They  were  in  the  clutches 
of  unscrupulous  merchants  and  traders,  education 
was  virtually  unknown,  they  had  practically  no 
religious  guidance,  and  they  were  almost  without 
medical  aid.  He  found  children  bare-footed  and 
almost  naked  in  a  zero  temperature,  and  adults 
who  had  to  borrow  each  other's  clothes  in  order 
that  they  might  come  to  him  for  treatment. 

Within  fifteen  years,  he  brought  about  wonder- 
ful changes.  He  clothed  the  naked,  treated  the 
sick,  built  hospitals,  sawmills  and  workshops,  in- 
stalled his  own  electricity,  telegraphs  and  tel- 
ephones, and  established  co-operative  stores,  pro- 
viding much  of  the  capital  out  of  his  private  funds. 
Not  only  is  he  a  physician,  business  man  and 
educator.  He  is  a  minister,  also,  and  preaches  a 
doctrine  of  practical  Christianity. 

Though  Dr.  Grenfell  was  knighted  by  King 
Edward  and  entertained  by  President  Roosevelt 
and  many  other  noted  men,  though  Oxford  honored 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       81 

him  with  the  only  M.  D.  degree  she  had  ever 
bestowed  up  to  that  time,  he  is  modest  and  re- 
tiring. Devoted,  earnest  and  self-sacrificing,  he 
makes  light  of  dangers  and  sees  in  obstacles  only 
an  incentive  to  greater  effort.  He  loves  his  work. 
"It  is  a  bully  good  thing  to  be  up  against  a  prob- 
lem," he  says. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  woman  who  came  to  him 
after  he  had  given  a  lecture  on  his  work  in 
Labrador. 

"Oh,  Dr.  Grenfell,"  she  exclaimed,  "how  nobly 
you  are  sacrificing  yourself  for  those  poor  people." 

Dr.  Grenfell  promptly  replied,  "Madame,  you 
do  not  understand.  I  am  having  the  time  of  my 
life  in  Labrador."  \\Tiether  or  not  the  story  is 
accurate,  it  expresses  well  the  spirit  of  the  man.^^ 

Walter  Reed  and  Wilfred  Grenfell  are  only  two 
of  many  effective  heroes  in  the  field  of  medicine. 
Lord  Lister  discovered  the  value  of  antiseptics. 
He  might  have  made  himself  wealthy  by  keeping 
his  discovery  a  secret.  But  he  gave  it  to  the  world. 
It  has  enabled  physicians  to  save  thousands  of 
lives.  In  the  medical  profession  no  man  is  reputa- 
ble who  patents  any  instrument,  device  or  drug. 
He  is  expected  to  give  what  he  discovers,  as  soon 
as  its  value  is  demonstrated,  freely  to  the  world. 


82     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

Other  physicians  are  developing  plans  enabling 
people  to  get  the  best  medical  service  at  the  cost 
of  a  specified  sum  to  be  paid  in  small  installments. 
These  plans  encourage  persons  to  go  to  their  doc- 
tor for  the  most  trivial  ailments,  thus  enabling 
the  physician  to  strangle  the  disease  before  it 
makes  headway  in  the  system.  In  many  house- 
holds, the  father  makes  just  enough  to  pay  the 
daily  running  expenses.  When  sickness  comes, 
the  family  falls  behind  financially  and  some- 
times never  catches  up.  Thus,  sickness  is 
frequently  an  important  cause  of  pauperism. 
Great  gains  in  the  warfare  against  disease  and 
poverty  may  be  made  by  extending  these  plans 
into  industrial  communities  and  throughout 
society.'^'* 

There  are  thousands  of  physicians  in  the  United 
States,  trying  to  make  a  living  by  treating  people 
after  they  become  sick.  Society  does  not  need 
any  more  physicians  of  this  kind  now.  There  is  a 
need  and  an  opportunity  for  men  who  have  the 
courage  and  ability  to  promote  preventive  med- 
icine, to  develop  methods  of  teaching  people  how 
to  keep  well.  Typhoid  fever,  tuberculosis,  in- 
fantile paralysis  and  other  diseases,  as  we  have 
seen,  cause  a  vast  amount  of  suffering.    Much  of 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       83 

this  misery  may  be  prevented  by  statesmanlike 
work  in  the  field  of  medicine. 

A  Teacher. — As  a  teacher  at  the  University  of 
Chicago,  Charles  R.  Henderson  was  said  to  have 
been  the  man  most  beloved  by  the  undergraduates. 
His  classes  for  graduate  students  taxed  the  ca- 
pacities of  the  largest  rooms. 

After  thorough  study  in  America  and  Germany, 
Mr.  Henderson  rose  rapidly  in  the  teaching  pro- 
fession till  he  became  full  professor  of  sociology  at 
the  University  of  Chicago.  He  wrote  many  well- 
used  volumes.  He  was  President  of  the  Chicago 
Social  Hygiene  Society,  The  United  Charities  of 
Chicago,  and  The  National  Prison  Association; 
he  was  chairman  of  the  Mayor's  Commission  of 
Unemployment,  and  held  many  similar  offices. 
Dr.  Henderson  was  courageous  and  effective  in  his 
work.  Being  a  scientific  investigator  first,  and  a 
social  reformer  afterwards,  he  was  careful  to  base 
reforms  on  facts.  He  was  a  man  of  invincible  good- 
will. Breaking  into  glorious  passion,  as  he  de- 
nounced hypocrisy  and  greed,  he  would  check 
himself  by  a  reflection  that  there  was  some  good 
in  those  whose  weaknesses  he  was  assailing. 

Professor  Henderson  was  told  by  his  physician 
in  the  fall  of  1914,  that  he  was  in  a  precarious  con- 


84      THE   YOUTH  AND  THE   NATION 

dition  physically  and  that  he  would  have  to  drop 
all  his  work  for  a  time.  If  he  had  thought  only 
of  himself,  this  is  what  he  would  have  done.  But 
at  that  time,  the  unemployed  were  crowding  into 
Chicago  and  he  felt  that,  as  chairman  of  the 
Commission  on  Unemployment,  he  must  remain  at 
his  post  of  duty.  He  worked  tirelessly  all  winter, 
and  sent  his  report  to  the  printer.  Then  came  a 
fatal  apoplectic  stroke.  He  died  in  the  cause  of 
humanity.  At  a  time  when  many  heroes  in  Europe 
were  giving  their  lives  in  the  work  of  destroying 
their  fellow-men,  Charles  R.  Henderson  gave  his 
life  to  the  task  of  saving  men.^^ 

It  has  been  said  that  education  is  the  most 
poorly  paid  and  the  most  richly  rewarded  of  pro- 
fessions. This  is  not  always  so,  because  a  con- 
siderable number  of  educators  receive  large 
salaries.  On  the  other  hand,  the  rewards  are  some- 
times of  doubtful  value.  Edward  A.  Ross  was 
dismissed  from  Leland  Stanford  University,  and 
Scott  Nearing  from  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania because,  having  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions, they  taught  beliefs  that  were  considered 
too  radical.  William  Wirt,  of  the  Gary,  Indiana, 
schools  has  rendered  large  service  in  the  field  of 
education,  and  his  work  has  met  with  widespread 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       85 

approval.  Horace  Mann's  life  was  rich  in  expe- 
riences; he  was  a  progressive  and  waged  a  success- 
ful fight  for  educational  reform  in  Massachusetts. 

Because  ignorance  is  one  of  the  main  causes  of 
disease,  vice,  crime  and  poverty,  the  educator 
occupies  a  strategic  position  in  the  warfare  against 
these  evils.  Education  is  now  becoming  a  science. 
The  United  States  is  awakening  to  the  wonderful 
possibilities  in  advanced  methods  of  education. 
Men  are  wanted  to  develop  vocational  education; 
to  devise  ways  of  keeping  children  in  schools  after 
the  law  permits  them  to  go  to  work,  and  to  work 
out  courses  of  study  which  will  enable  young 
people  to  understand  better  the  vital  problems  of 
human  life.  In  education  there  are  great  opportu- 
nities for  men  of  initiative  who  have  the  courage 
of  their  convictions  and  who  are  willing  to  take 
risks  in  carrying  out  reforms. 

A  Physical  Director.— James  H.  McCurdy  went 
to  work  in  a  machine  shop  after  graduating  from 
the  high  school  of  Princeton,  Maine.  He  took  up 
farming  for  a  year  and  then  blacksmithing.  On 
his  twenty-first  birthday,  he  accepted  a  position  in 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  as  janitor, 
assistant  secretary  and  physical  director.  Mc- 
Curdy saw  that  he  needed  more  education;  there- 


86     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

fore  he  entered  the  Springfield  Training  School. 
He  graduated  from  medical  school  and  later  won 
a  Master's  degree  from  Clark  University.  He  is 
now  Professor  of  Physical  Education  at  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  College  in  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  and  editor  of  the  "  American 
Physical  Education  Review."  Though  he  was 
awkward  and  clumsy,  though  he  was  advised  not 
to  enter  physical  work.  Dr.  McCurdy,  by  persistent 
effort,  has  made  his  way  to  the  top  of  his  profession. 

There  are  many  other  men  in  physical  education, 
who  have  rendered  large  service  to  mankind. 
J.  Howard  Crocker  began  his  career  by  throwing 
out  of  his  gymnasium  bodily  a  group  of  rough 
members,  thereby  winning  their  deep  respect.  He 
became  the  leading  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation physical  director  in  Canada.  He  was 
chosen  by  the  Canadian  Government  as  coach  for 
the  first  Canadian  Olympic  team.  About  1910, 
he  went  to  China  where  he  performed  a  remark- 
able service  in  bringing  to  that  nation  a  system  of 
modern  physical  education. ^^ 

The  Director  of  Physical  Education  should  be 
a  trained  gymnast  and  a  leader.  It  is  well,  also, 
for  him  to  be  a  coach.  As  a  director  of  a  gymna- 
sium or  playground,  he  may  have  a  helpful  in- 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       87 

fluence  on  the  lives  of  thousands  of  boys  and  young 
men,  by  advising  them  regarding  physical  exercise, 
rest,  sleep,  foods  and  sex.  The  well  trained  direc- 
tor of  physical  education  can  do  much  to  prevent 
disease,  thus  making  himself  more  useful  in  a 
community  than  many  practicing  physicians, 
who  seek  merely  to  cure  people  after  they  be- 
come sick. 

Physical  education  is  developing  rapidly  in 
high  and  elementary  schools,  and  in  municipal 
institutions.  The  demand  for  well  trained  men 
in  gymnasium  and  playground  work  is  greater 
than  the  supply.  Training  in  physical  education 
can  now  be  had  at  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion Training  Schools  and  other  colleges  of  physical 
education.  For  the  larger  positions  in  this  field, 
a  man  should  have  a  medical  education. 

A  Lawyer. — Louis  D.  Brandeis  was  graduated 
from  the  Harvard  Law  School  and  before  the  age  of 
thirty  had  a  large  practice  in  Boston.  He  soon  de- 
termined to  give  himself  to  public  life,  and  there- 
upon found  large  opportunities  for  useful  service. 
He  appeared  before  a  Congressional  tariff  commit- 
tee and  was  ridiculed  for  the  courageous  stand  he 
took  in  behalf  of  the  public.  He  worked  out  a  plan 
for  the  gas  company  in  Boston  which  brought  the 


88     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

consumer  lower  rates  and  the  company  more 
money. 

Before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
Brandeis  argued  that  it  was  constitutional  to 
enact  laws  protecting  women  from  overwork. 
Until  then,  questions  of  this  kind  were  argued  be- 
fore the  courts  as  technical  problems  unrelated  to 
real  life.  In  this  case,  Brandeis  brought  to  the 
Supreme  Court  for  the  first  time  the  vital  facts 
regarding  modern  industry.  He  reminded  the 
Court  that  women  are  human  beings,  not  mere 
machines,  and  showed  that  they  are  entitled  to 
protection  against  exploitation. 

In  1910,  Mr.  Brandeis  acted  as  an  arbitrator  in 
a  bitter  fight  between  the  cloakmakers  in  New 
York  and  their  employers.  It  was  due  to  him  that 
a  settlement  was  reached.  Mr.  Brandeis  is  an 
authority  in  the  fields  of  conservation,  transporta- 
tion, public  franchises  and  modern  industrial 
problems.  To  these  questions,  he  has  brought  a 
mind  of  extraordinary  power  and  insight.  In  1916, 
President  Wilson  appointed  Mr.  Brandeis  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. ^^ 

The  profession  of  law  is  to-day  overcrowded. 
There  are  too  many  lawyers  who  will  take  any 
kind  of  case  for  the  sake  of  the  money  in  it.    There 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       89 

is  a  need  for  men  in  the  law,  who,  hke  Brandeis, 
place  service  to  one's  fellow  men  above  personal 
gain.  Through  the  aid  of  such  men,  laws  are  being 
enacted  which  promise  to  do  much  in  reducing 
human  misery.  Several  states  have  made  laws 
providing  accident  insurance  and  a  minimum  wage 
for  women.  State  health  insurance  and  old-age 
insurance  prevent  much  poverty.  They  are  in 
force  in  Germany  and  England,  though  not  yet 
in  the  United  States.  Many  promising  reforms 
await  vigorous  men  in  law  who  are  willing  to  enter 
the  fight  against  selfish  interests  in  behalf  of  the 
oppressed.  But  to  be  effective  a  man  must  be 
more  than  unselfish,  he  must  be  also  a  good  lawyer. 
He  must  have  a  keen  mind  and  be  a  hard  worker, 

A  Politician. — John  M.  Eshleman  began  life  in 
California  as  an  orange-picker  and  a  railroad 
section-hand.  He  gave  himself  a  high  school  edu- 
cation by  lantern-light,  and  put  himself  through 
the  law  department  of  the  state  university,  gradu- 
ating as  one  of  the  two  prize  students  of  his  class. 
He  became  deputy  labor  commissioner  for  the 
state,  city  attorney  of  Berkeley  and  then  a  member 
of  the  legislature. 

Eshleman  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  reform 
minority  in  the  legislature  of  1907.    He  introduced 


90     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

the  first  bill  against  race-track  gambling  and 
thereby  incurred  the  hostility  of  the  railroad 
machine,  which  was  allied  with  the  race-track 
machine.  Eshleman  was  notified  that,  unless  he 
withdrew  his  bill,  no  bill  referred  to  his  committee 
could  pass,  not  even  the  University  appropriation 
bills.  He  refused  to  compromise.  The  struggle 
which  ensued  was  so  long  and  so  bitter  that 
Eshleman's  health  broke  under  it.  He  never  had 
another  well  day  in  his  life,  but  he  lived  to  see  the 
race-track  bill  become  a  law  and  the  railroad 
machine  destroyed. 

A  few  years  later  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
railroad  commission,  and  was  made  its  president 
by  the  other  members.  With  clearness  and  keen 
intellect,  a  constructive  grasp  of  law  and  politics, 
a  genius  for  hard  work,  unbending  courage,  and  a 
sense  of  justice  towards  railroads  and  public  alike, 
he  made  the  commission  a  vital  force.  Its  work 
attracted  nation-wide  attention.  He  was  induced 
to  run  for  lieutenant-governor,  and  was  elected  in 
1914.  Eshleman  was  in  line  for  positions  of  large 
service  when,  in  February,  19 IG,  he  died. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  career  of  a  politician  who 
never  played  politics  for  private  gain;  of  an  office- 
seeker  who  wanted  nothing  but  an  opportunity 


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DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       91 

to  serve;  of  a  railroad-machine  destroyer  who  was 
so  scrupulously  just  to  the  railroads  that  they 
never  appealed  from  his  decisions;  of  a  student 
who  never  lost  touch  with  the  people;  of  a  re- 
former who  knew  no  cant;  and  of  a  big-souled  man 
whom  a  whole  state  loved. "^ 

Many  men  used  to  enter  politics  for  what 
they  could  get  out  of  it.  Fortunately  better  men 
now  are  entering  public  life.  Brand  Whitlock,  re- 
cently the  United  States  Ambassador  in  Belgium, 
was  Mayor  of  Toledo  for  several  terms.  Writing 
was  the  vocation  of  his  choice.  But  his  training 
made  him  a  valuable  executive,  and  he  was  will- 
ing to  serve."^  Charles  E.  Merriam,  Professor  of 
Political  Science  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  has 
had  a  training  which  peculiarly  fits  him  for  active 
work  in  city  government.  He  became  a  member 
of  the  city  council  in  Chicago  because  of  the  serv- 
ice he  could  render.  Men  of  this  kind  are  needed 
in  public  life. 

An  Engineer.  — Wlien  President  Roosevelt  wanted 
a  man  to  build  the  Panama  Canal,  he  chose  George 
W.  Goethals.  Goethals  had  graduated  from  West 
Point,  standing  second  in  a  class  of  fifty -four.  He 
had  gained  further  experience  under  Colonel 
Merrill  at  Cincinnati.     "The  most  unfortunate 


&2      THE   YOUTH   AND   THE   NATION 

thing  about  you,"  Colonel  Merrill  told  him  when 
he  reported,  ''is  that  you  are  a  lieutenant  of 
engineers.  If  you  can  subordinate  that  fact,  you 
may  succ-eed."  So  Goethals,  though  a  graduate, 
started  at  the  bottom  as  rodman.  By  loyalty  to 
his  work,  by  his  sturdy  dependableness,  by  his 
clearheadedness,  and  genius  for  hard  work, 
Goethals  won  a  reputation  at  Washington  that 
led  to  his  appointment  at  Panama. 

There  had  been  many  administrative  changes, 
before  Goethals  took  charge  at  the  canal,  and  he 
found  c-onsiderable  unrest  among  the  men.  In  a 
few  months  he  had  won  their  loyalty.  Together 
they  attacked  the  greatest  engineering  task  in 
histon.'.  Goethals  believed  in  industrial  welfare. 
He  treated  his  men,  not  as  machines,  but  as  human 
beings.  ''My  chief  interest  at  Panama  is  not  in 
engineering,  but  in  the  men,"  he  said.  "The  canal 
will  build  itself  if  we  can  handle  the  men."  Special 
privilege  was  eliminated.  Shoulder  straps  and 
brass  buttons  were  kept  out  of  sight,  as  was  also 
Goethals'  own  uniform.  They  were  there,  he  told 
the  men,  not  for  c-eremony,  but  to  dig  the  canal. 
A  jungle  was  to  be  penetrated,  a  mountain  range 
was  to  be  cut  through,  gigantic  locks  were  to  be 
built — these  things  took  hold  of  the  imagination 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE   NATION       93 

of  the  men.  He  aroused  an  irresistible  spirit  of 
enthusiasm  among  them. 

At  one  time,  eight  thousand  were  engaged  at  the 
Culebra  Cut.  Every  night  as  much  soil  slid  into 
the  cut  as  could  be  taken  out  during  the  day.  But 
there  was  not  a  sign  of  discouragement — the  men 
enjoyed  the  fight.  Colonel  Goethals  walked 
through  the  cut  one  morning  after  an  extensive 
slide.  The  foreman  had  been  on  the  job  since  mid- 
night. 

"Well,  how  is  everything  this  morning,  Mr. 
Hagen.^"  asked  Goethals. 

"Fine,  Colonel,  fine.  It  buried  that  steam 
shovel  over  there  and  tipped  over  two  batteries  of 
drills  and  covered  all  the  tracks  through  the  cut 
but  one,  but  everything's  fine.    We're  diggin'." 

Goethals  seemed  never  to  lose  faith  and  courage; 
and  he  won  the  loyalty  of  his  men  by  his  sincerity  of 
purpose  and  his  democratic  ways.  The  same  high 
qualities  of  manhood  exhibited  in  the  charges  of 
armies  in  times  of  war  were  seen  in  the  attacks  of 
Goethals'  men  upon  Gold  Hill  at  Panama.  No 
sooner  would  his  soldiers  be  beaten  back  than  they 
would  re-form,  advance  with  batteries  of  drills  and 
giant  steam  shovels  and  storm  the  works.  Goethals 
has  never  sought  publicity.     He  never  makes  a 


94     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

speech  if  he  can  help  it.  He  has  always  wanted 
to  be  judged  by  what  he  does,  rather  than  by 
what  he  saj^s.^" 

During  the  past  ten  or  twenty  years  the  en- 
gineering schools  of  the  country  have  been  turning 
out  hundreds  and  thousands  of  civil,  mechanical 
and  electrical  engineers.  Many  have  succeeded. 
Others  have  been  greatly  disappointed.  Only 
rarely  is  a  Goethals  needed  to  dig  a  great  canal. 
There  is  probably  a  danger  of  overcrowding  this 
profession,  if  it  is  not  overcrowded  already.  Men 
who  have  the  courage  to  insist  upon  adequate 
sanitation,  protection  from  dangerous  machinery 
and  fair  wages  for  the  men  under  their  control  are 
needed  not  only  in  the  construction  of  great  high- 
ways and  railroads,  but  in  the  reclamation  of  arid 
lands  and  other  new  types  of  engineering  directly 
in  line  with  social  progress. 

A  Minister. — If  Bishop  Franklin  S.  Spaulding  of 
Utah  had  been  an  Indian,  he  might  have  been 
called  "Straight  Tongue."  He  hated  cant  and 
sham,  especially  in  religion.  Because  he  honestly 
preached  the  truth  as  he  understood  it,  the  man- 
agers of  the  corporations  that  owned  certain  towns 
in  Utah  refused  to  sell  him  land  for  churches. 
They  told  him  that  they  proposed  to  control  the 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       95 

preaching  in  their  towns.  Therefore  Bishop 
Spaulding  refused  to  build  the  churches.  He  was 
a  friend  of  the  workers,  and  would  not  betray 
them  even  for  new  churches. 

"No  one  could  long  be  in  his  presence,"  said  one 
who  knew  him,  "without  pronouncing  his  soul 
pure  white,  his  mind  clear  and  far-seeing,  and  his 
heart  the  clean,  glad,  responsive  heart  of  a  boy." 

Recently  Bishop  Spaulding  made  an  address  in 
the  great  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine  in  New 
York  City  on  "Christianity  and  Democracy," 
declared  by  one  Boston  woman  to  be  the  most  un- 
compromising utterance  she  had  ever  heard  from 
a  pulpit.  "We  worship,"  he  said,  "in  a  great 
church  like  this,  and  it  makes  us  forget  the  slums 
just  over  the  way;  we  wear  our  holy  vestments, 
and  we  forget  the  millions  who  have  only  rags  to 
wear  ...  we  discuss  hymns  and  prayers  and  we 
forget  that  there  are  ten  thousands  of  thousands 
whose  hearts  are  too  heavy  to  sing  and  whose  faith 
is  too  weak  to  pray." 

He  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  just  as  fearlessly 
to  a  meeting  of  Socialists  in  Salt  Lake  City,  though 
they  jeered  him  and  challenged  his  honesty.  He 
died  in  September,  1914,  and  when  his  body  lay 
in  St.  Mark's  Church  in  Salt  Lake  Citv,  thousands 


96     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

of  working  people  crowded  the  church  from  morn- 
ing until  night.^^ 

There  are  many  other  ministers  who  have  been 
effective  fighters.  H.  Roswell  Bates  was  pastor  of 
the  Spring  Street  Church  in  the  great  factory  dis- 
trict of  New  York  City.  He  established  a  Neigh- 
borhood House  next  to  the  church,  which  was 
crowded  with  men,  women  and  children.  A 
Kindergarten,  a  Day  Nursery,  a  Free  Dispensary, 
a  troop  of  Boy  Scouts,  and  clubs  of  many  kinds 
were  organized. 

Bates  believed  in  taking  his  religion  into  every- 
day life.  He  found  one  mother  starving  to  death 
with  three  little  girls.  A  baby  was  in  her  arms, 
dead  from  starvation.  She  had  come  from  Italy 
to  America  thinking  it  a  land  of  promise.  Bates 
took  them  to  the  Neighborhood  House.  The 
mother  became  a  power  for  good  in  the  community. 
The  three  daughters  graduated  from  high  school, 
and  one  went  to  college. 

Many  times  during  his  twelve  years  of  ministry, 
he  received  calls  to  churches  of  great  wealth  and 
large  menbership.  He  refused  them  all,  because  he 
believed  that  his  work  was  among  the  neglected 
people  of  Spring  Street.  Here  he  worked  for  twelve 
years.    And  in  those  brief,  strenuous  years  of  serv- 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION       97 

ice,  he  wore  himself  out.  He  died  a  young 
man.^- 

There  is  a  great  need  in  the  ministry  for  vigorous 
men  who  understand  human  hfe,  and  who  have 
the  courage  to  apply  the  teachings  of  their  religion 
to  the  vital  problems  of  life.  The  modern  church 
requires  men  who  are  forceful  speakers,  sym- 
pathetic pastors,  wise  teachers,  and  able  exec- 
utives. Few  positions  demand  more  of  a  man. 
Few  positions  offer  greater  opportunities  to  big, 
capable  men  who  wish  to  make  their  lives  count 
in  the  warfare  against  the  enemies  of  justice  and 
righteousness. 

A  Missionary. — Arthur  Jackson  was  an  English 
boy  and  decided  at  the  age  of  sixteen  to  spend  his 
life  in  the  foreign  field.  Shortly  afterwards  he  de- 
cided to  be  a  medical  missionary. 

In  preparatory  school,  Jackson  was  captain  of 
the  Swimming  Club  and  in  college  he  was  the  best 
oarsman  of  his  day.  He  won  a  place  on  the  soccer 
eleven  during  his  first  year,  and  excelled  as  a  rugby 
player.  He  was  active  in  debating  and  in  the 
Christian  Union.  Jackson  was  graduated  from  the 
Cambridge  Medical  School  at  the  head  of  his 
class,  and  continued  his  medical  education  after 
graduation  until  he  left  for  Manchuria  in  China. 


98     THE  YOUTH  AND  THE   NATION 

It  had  been  decided  to  establish  a  medical  school 
in  connection  with  a  prominent  hospital  in  Man- 
churia. Dr.  Jackson  was  appointed  to  be  one  of 
the  two  men  who  should  start  this  school.  Into 
this  work  he  threw  himself  with  enthusiasm.  He 
had  been  at  work  only  a  few  weeks,  when  a  plague 
broke  out.  The  authorities  were  alarmed.  The 
Viceroy  made  an  older  medical  missionary  his 
special  adviser  and  formed  a  Sanitary  Board.  It 
was  decided  to  guard  the  railroad  station  at  Muk- 
den in  order  to  prevent  infected  persons  from 
passing  through  the  city.  A  medical  man  was 
needed  to  take  charge  of  this  work.  Jackson 
volunteered.  The  plague  was  treacherous,  and 
the  position  was  extremely  dangerous.  He  took 
every  precaution,  was  vaccinated,  and  worked 
with  a  mask  and  hood  that  covered  his  face.  He 
was  even  more  careful  with  his  assistants.  "Stand 
back,"  he  would  say,  "don't  come  too  near,  it's 
risky  and  there  is  no  use  of  all  of  us  running  risks." 
He  worked  night  and  day,  carrying  on  a  vast 
amount  of  organization  work.  Only  a  man  of 
wonderful  endurance  could  have  done  it. 

On  Monday,  January  23,  1911,  Dr.  Jackson  dis- 
charged sixty  Chinese  who  owed  their  lives  to  his 
care,  on  Tuesday  he  became  ill,  and  on  Wednesday 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION      99 

he  succumbed  to  the  plague.  China  was  saddened 
yet  thrilled  by  the  lavish  offering  of  so  fine  a  life 
in  her  behalf.  A  memorial  service  was  arranged 
by  the  Viceroy  in  honor  of  the  martyr,  who  be- 
lieved that  he  could  best  serve  God  by  serving 
China.^^ 

While  there  is  need  for  vigorous  and  capable 
preachers,  teachers,  and  physicians  at  home,  there 
is  greater  need  in  foreign  fields.  Especially  in 
China  and  India  are  men  needed.  While  in  the 
United  States  there  is  a  physician  to  every  691 
persons,^^  in  China  there  is  only  one  to  about 
150,000  persons — the  equivalent  in  the  United 
States  of  one  physician  to  a  city  the  size  of  New 
Haven,  Connecticut.^^  Missionary  Boards  want 
men  trained  in  the  colleges,  the  theological  and 
the  medical  schools  to  go  as  teachers,  ministers  and 
physicians  to  foreign  lands  where  social  conditions 
are  even  worse  than  in  the  United  States.  Many 
who  have  gone  have  done  wonderful  service;  some 
have  sacrificed  their  lives.  Many  have  been  effect- 
ive in  bringing  about  a  feeling  of  friendship  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  foreign  nations, 
thus  aiding  in  the  prevention  of  war  and  the  estab- 
lishing of  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  world. 


100    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

Three  Men  in  the  Field  of  Art. — Wilfred  Wilson 
Gibson  is  a  young  English  poet,  whose  early  work 
was  superficial  and  conventional.  He  saw  that  if 
he  were  to  make  his  art  real,  he  must  know  life 
intimately.  Accordingly,  he  went  into  the  mines 
and  into  the  slums;  he  talked  with  men  starving 
for  lack  of  work  and  with  wives  and  mothers  whose 
husbands  and  sons  had  been  lost  at  sea.  He  lived 
the  vital  throbbing  life  of  humanity. 

In  his  later  verses,  Gibson  shows  us  the  miners, 
fishers,  farm  laborers,  steel-workers,  slum  waifs 
and  factory  girls.  They  are  people  who,  from 
morning  till  night,  are  concerned  with  the  problem 
of  getting  enough  bread  to  keep  body  and  soul 
together.  He  knew  their  lives  and  could  reveal 
them  with  power  and  pathos  because  he  had  lived 
among  them.  Persons  who  are  familiar  with  the 
cold  facts  and  the  statistics  of  economics  and 
sociology  find  in  Gibson  a  poet  who  turns  these 
cold  facts  into  human  flesh,  tears  and  flowing 
blood.^® 

Ernest  Poole  was  born  in  Chicago,  attended 
Princeton  University  and  then  took  up  work  at  the 
University  Settlement  in  New  York.  He  was 
particularly  interested  in  the  boys  of  the  street — 
messengers,  newsboys  and  bootblacks.   He  mingled 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    101 

with  them,  studied  their  life  and  helped  them  as  he 
could.  Out  of  this  experience  grew  several  mag- 
azine articles  which  had  ^auch  to  do  in  focusing 
public  attention  on  these  neglected  forms  of  child 
labor.  Mr.  Poole  studied  labor  conditions  care- 
fully. His  book,  "The  Harbor"  has  done  great 
good  in  calling  the  attention  of  people  all  over  the 
country  to  the  working  and  living  conditions  of 
unskilled  laborers  in  the  great  cities.^^ 

Victor  David  Brenner  was  born  in  Russia  and 
came  to  America  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  For  sev- 
eral years  he  practiced  his  trade  as  a  die-cutter. 
He  then  studied  in  Paris  for  five  years  and  has 
come  to  be  one  of  America's  great  sculptors.  One 
of  his  plaques  shows  "The  Immigrant  led  by 
America,"  and  he  is  the  man  who  designed  the  Lin- 
coln penny.  He  is  trying  to  bring  the  love  of 
beauty  to  the  common  people  of  America.  Much 
of  his  work  is  symbolic  of  social  achievement.^^ 

A  Forester. — Overton  W.  Price  pursued  a  special 
course  in  forestry  in  this  country  and  in  Germany 
and  was  for  almost  ten  years  Associate  Forester  in 
the  Forest  Service  of  the  United  States.  During  his 
term  of  office,  attacks  were  made  on  the  conserva- 
tion movement.  This  meant  personal  attacks  on 
those  who  were  guarding  the  nation's  property. 


102    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

The  administration  failed  to  support  the  foresters, 
and  Mr.  Pinchot,  Mr.  Price  and  their  associates 
lost  their  positions.  Mr.  Price  played  his  part 
with  rare  courage  and  disregard  of  personal  in- 
terests. The  result  was  costly.  Unsparing  of 
himself  in  work,  he  broke  down  in  health  and  died 
in  the  early  summer  of  1914.^^  Mr.  Price  is  only 
one  of  a  number  of  men  who  have  worked  to  con- 
serve the  nation's  natural  resources. 

Several  years  ago  President  Van  Hise  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  our  supply  of  coal,  timber,  oil,  and  other 
natural  resources  was  limited,  and  that,  if  it  were 
wasted,  future  generations  would  have  to  suffer. 
In  business  and  in  public  life  men  are  needed  who, 
like  Mr.  Price,  have  the  courage  to  fight  against 
greed,  in  order  to  save  for  our  successors,  the 
wonderful  gifts  which  nature  has  bestowed 
upon  us. 

A  Journalist. — Jacob  K.  Riis  came  to  the  United 
States  from  Denmark  as  a  youth  in  his  teens.  He 
was  not  afraid  of  hard  work  and  plunged  into  any- 
thing he  could  get  to  do.  He  worked  in  a  coal  mine, 
in  a  brick  yard  and  on  a  truck  farm.  Later  he  got 
into  newspaper  work  in  New  York  and  became  a 
police  reporter. 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION     103 

As  a  newspaper  man,  he  discovered  the  city 
slum  and  all  the  evils  it  stood  for.  For  Riis  to  see 
an  evil  meant  for  him  to  fight  it.  Many  things 
and  many  people  seemed  against  him.  Then 
Theodore  Roosevelt  became  Police  Commissioner, 
and  Riis  found  in  him  a  staunch  helper.  Together 
they  wiped  out  a  dozen  of  the  worse  tenements  in 
the  city. 

Riis  believed  in  the  power  of  fact,  and  he  be- 
lieved in  the  people — the  great  mass  of  common 
people.  So  he  simply  published  photographs  and 
told  people  what  he  saw.  This  method  was  effective. 
When  he  exposed  the  sources  of  New  York's  water 
supply,  the  people  demanded  pure  water;  and  they 
got  it  at  a  cost  of  millions  of  dollars.  He  led  Roose- 
velt to  abolish  police  station  lodging-houses  which 
were  little  more  than  schools  for  crime.  As  a 
journalist,  he  worked  against  child  labor;  he  ad- 
vocated more  schools  and  playgrounds;  he  did  ef- 
fective work  in  the  transforming  of  foul  city  blocks 
into  small  parks. 

According  to  one  great  philanthropist,  it  is  better 
to  get  a  city  to  do  things  for  itself  than  to  give 
money  and  do  things  for  a  city.  Riis  cost  New 
York  millions  of  dollars.  He  was  of  greater  service 
to  the  city  than  its  greatest  philanthropists. 


104    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

Riis  was  a  courageous  fighter  for  all  that  was 
noble  and  good.  Often  he  fought  alone,  nearly 
everyone  else  being  wrong  or  indifferent;  but 
because  he  was  right  and  persisted  he  won  out. 
He  threw  himself  into  the  life  of  the  people  with 
zest  and  vigor.  He  was  a  mighty  soldier  of 
peace.^° 

The  newspaper  probably  does  as  much  to  in- 
fluence public  opinion  as  do  our  public  schools. 
Newspapers  have  elected  bad  men  to  public  office 
and  they  have  elected  good  men.  Newspapers 
have  ridiculed  and  defeated  political  and  social 
reforms;  they  have  also  promoted  and  carried 
them  forward. 

While  often  the  opportunity  of  a  reporter  is 
limited,  there  is  a  distinct  need  for  men  in  jour- 
nalism who  understand  the  vital  problems  of 
modern  society.  Men  of  broad  sjanpathies  and 
journalistic  ability  may  rise  to  positions  in  which 
they  can  exert,  as  did  Riis,  a  wonderful  influence 
for  social  betterment. 

We  admire  the  brave  men  who  go  to  war  and  die 
for  their  country.  Should  we  admire  less  the  men 
who  die  in  the  warfare  against  disease,  crime  and 
poverty?  Many  men  in  the  professions  risk  their 
lives;  a  few  die.    Seldom  are  they  applauded;  often 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    105 

they  fight  alone.  So  to  struggle,  so  to  endure  re- 
quires courage  of  as  high  an  order  as  does  military 
warfare.  There  are  heroes  of  war,  there  are  also 
heroes  of  peace. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DEFENDERS   OF   THE   NATION IN   BUSINESS   LIFE 

Much  of  the  poverty,  crime  and  disease  of  modern 
life,  seems  to  be  due  to  modern  industrialism. 
Men  have  been  so  impatient  to  build  up  great 
business  enterprises,  that  they  have  given  but 
little  attention  to  the  damage  done  in  the  process  of 
development.  Now,  however,  thoughtful  business 
men  are  beginning  to  understand  the  seriousness  of 
present  conditions.  They  are  taking  steps  to 
reduce  the  evils  of  industry  and  make  business 
contribute  to  the  welfare  of  society.  To  the  timid, 
these  efforts  seem  radical;  to  others,  they  seem 
inadequate.  It  will  be  stimulating  to  consider 
briefly  the  careers  of  a  few  such  business  men. 

A  Student  of  Economics  who  Became  a  Business 
Man. — William  C.  Proctor  was  a  student  at  Prince- 
ton University,  and  there  he  made  a  special  study  of 
economics.  His  father  was  the  head  of  a  large  soap 
company.  After  he  was  graduated,  he  went  into  his 
father's  business,  not  at  the  top  but  at  the  bottom. 
He  put  on  overalls  and  accepted  a  laborer's  salary, 

106 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    107 

determined  to  get  the  facts  of  life  as  a  working- 
man  sees  them.  He  came  from  college  with  live 
ideas  about  economic  life,  but  was  willing  to  test 
out  those  ideas  as  a  common  laborer. 

Soon  after  he  went  to  work  the  company  was 
bothered  by  labor  troubles.  Young  Mr.  Proctor 
believed  that  the  workers  did  not  get  a  just  share 
of  the  profits  of  the  business,  so  he  worked  out  a 
plan  whereby  the  men  were  to  get  part  of  the 
dividends.  Now  hundreds  of  employees  have 
acquired  stock  worth  thousands  of  dollars. 

Many  examples  might  be  given  to  show  the 
success  of  the  plan.  When  Henry  Brown  went  to 
work  for  the  company  he  was  almost  a  drunkard. 
The  man  who  worked  next  to  him  had  just  come 
into  full  ow^iership  of  $1,000  worth  of  stock.  He 
was  enthusiastic  about  his  newly  acquired  wealth 
and  could  talk  of  nothing  else.  Henry  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  man.  He  straightened  up  and  became 
a  stockholder  himself. 

Thomas  Mason  worked  in  the  machine  rooms, 
and  in  an  accident  lost  an  arm.  Some  firms  would 
have  discharged  him  or  made  him  a  night  watch- 
man at  a  greatly  reduced  salary,  even  though  he 
had  a  family.  Through  a  pension  fund,  main- 
tained by  the  company,  he  was  able  to  get  his 


108    THE   YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

regular  wage  of  twenty-one  dollars  a  week.  In 
addition,  by  saving  and  entering  the  profit-sharing 
plan,  he  became  owner  of  $12,000  worth  of  seven 
per  cent  stock.^^ 

This  company  is  trying  to  give  its  employees  a 
square  deal.  By  putting  into  practice  ideas  re- 
garding industry  gained  at  college,  Mr.  Proctor 
has  become  a  force  in  the  prevention  of  crime  and 
poverty. 

A  Business  Man  who  Practiced  the  Golden  Rule. 
— At  seventeen,  Charles  M.  Cox  was  handling 
barrels  in  Boston's  produce  market.  He  saved 
exactly  one-half  of  all  he  earned  and  accumulated  a 
thousand  dollars.  He  found  another  man  with  a 
thousand  dollars,  and  together  they  went  into 
business.  The  partnership  was  not  satisfactory  to 
young  Cox,  however,  and  he  bought  out  his  part- 
ner. He  established  a  one-man  firm;  he  hired  men 
and  fired  men;  he  bought  grain  and  he  sold  grain. 
He  was  the  owner  and  sole  boss  of  the  business. 
Cox  worked  hard  and  made  money,  but  he  paid  the 
penalty  for  running  a  one-man  business.  His  body 
broke,  and  he  went  to  bed  a  nervous  wreck. 

For  weeks  he  lay  in  bed  and  watched  his  business 
go  to  pieces;  he  lost  customers  and  he  lost  credit. 
He  also  did  some  thinking  while  he  lay  sick.    He 


-5     1, 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION     109 

was  a  companion  of  Edward  Bellamy.  Perhaps 
Bellamy  had  influenced  him;  possibly  Bellamy's 
book,  "Looking  Backward,"  vitalized  him.  He 
went  back  to  his  business  with  revolutionary  busi- 
ness ideals.  He  called  his  employees  together  in 
his  oflice,  divided  the  business  among  them  and 
organized  a  co-operative  company  in  which  every 
man  held  some  stock.  Under  the  new  plan,  no 
laborer  was  to  have  less  than  a  week's  vacation  on 
pay  each  year,  and  no  stenographer,  bookkeeper, 
or  oflBce  boy  was  to  have  less  than  a  month's  vaca- 
tion on  pay. 

The  plan  worked.  The  business  became  more 
efficient,  and  the  co-operative  corporation  made 
money.  Cox,  himself,  made  money  and  used 
much  of  it  for  the  community.  He  built  for  the 
children  of  Melrose  Highlands,  a  suburb  of  Boston 
where  he  lives,  a  swimming  pool.  He  supplied  the 
ground  for  a  playfield.  He  became  the  friend  of 
everyone  in  the  town. 

"Co-operation  isn't  charity,"  he  says.  "You've 
got  to  feel  the  joy  of  being  friends  with  your 
employees.  .  .  .  The  proud  employer  who 
looks  down  on  his  men  will  catch  it  if  he  doesn't 
watch  out,  even  if  he  pays  the  best  wages  in  the 
world.  .  .  .    The  happy  man  is  the  efficient  man. 


110    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

If  you  want  efficiency,  make  your  men  happy. 
Give  them  what  you  want  yourself.''  ^- 

A  Man  ivho  Gave  his  Business  to  his  Employees. — 
N.  0.  Nelson  is  a  successful  business  man  who 
has  worked  out  numerous  profit-sharing  plans 
during  the  last  thirty  years.  A  few  years  ago,  Mr. 
Nelson  got  the  idea  of  establishing  a  series  of  co- 
operative grocery  stores  in  New  Orleans.  In  order 
to  study  the  needs  of  the  people,  he  lived  in  a 
tenement  for  several  months.  First,  a  small  re- 
tail milk  station  was  established  to  furnish  the 
people  with  pure  milk.  Then  the  business  grew; 
the  Nelson  Co-operative  Association  was  organ- 
ized; and  the  business  continued  to  grow  until,  in 
1915,  there  were  forty-seven  stores  selling  honest 
wholesome  food  at  low  prices.  The  Association 
buys  oranges,  eggs,  butter,  potatoes  and  other 
foods  by  the  carload  and  sells  them  for  cash  prices. 
Furthermore,  customers  are  allowed  to  buy  stock 
in  the  company.  Thus  prices  for  the  consumer  are 
kept  at  a  minimum. 

When  these  stores,  with  other  property,  had 
reached  a  value  of  probably  $500,000,  Mr.  Nelson 
gave  the  entire  business  to  the  men  and  women 
who  worked  for  him,  about  three  hundred  in  num- 
ber.    Now  they  own  all  the  stock,  they  receive 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION     111 

dividends  as  well  as  wages,  and  are  free  from  the 
dread  of  poverty. 

Mr.  Nelson  has  developed  other  plans  for  the 
benefit  of  his  co-workers.  Various  provisions  are 
made  for  recreation,  and  when  an  employee  mar- 
ries, the  Association  contributes  fifty  dollars  or 
more  towards  the  new  home  to  be  established. 
Salaries  continue  during  sickness  and  physicians' 
services  are  paid  from  an  accumulated  fund. 

Mr.  Nelson  says  that  if  other  large  corporations 
would  adopt  this  plan  "all  the  people  would  get 
their  dues,  poverty  would  be  impossible  and  our 
prisons  would  be  practically  empty,  or  they  would 
empty  themselves  soon."  ^^ 

A  Corporation  President  who  Promotes  Welfare 
Work. — Cyrus  H.  McCormick  is  a  vigorous,  big- 
hearted  man  in  the  prime  of  life.  He  is  president  of 
a  large  corporation  manufacturing  farm  machinery, 
and  believes  in  recognizing  the  rights  and  interests 
of  the  men  who  work  with  him.  This  corporation 
subscribes  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  a  mu- 
tual benefit  association  to  which  three-fourths  of 
its  forty  thousand  employees  now  belong.  It  has 
established  a  pension  system;  it  provides  for  the 
education  of  its  grade  school  apprentices,  and  for 
medical  inspection  and  treatment  of  all. 


112    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

Particularly  careful  is  the  company  to  protect 
the  men  from  accident.  Said  Mr.  McCormick  in 
an  interview,  so  earnestly  that  there  was  little 
room  for  doubting  him,  "We  do  not  contract  for 
a  machine  without  stipulating  that  it  be  made  as 
safe  as  possible  before  it  leaves  the  factory  .  .  . 
we  hold  ourselves  responsible  not  only  for  the 
safety  of  our  employees  but  for  their  general 
health." 

"Suppose  that  you  do  your  utmost  to  make  this 
machine  safe,"  he  was  asked,  "and  yet  it  goes  on 
injuring  men.  You  realize  that  the  supremacy  of 
your  company  in  a  certain  field  rests  on  your  using 
this  machine" — 

"That  machine  would  go  out  of  the  works,"  he 
burst  in.    There  seemed  to  be  no  question  about  it. 

This  corporation  has,  in  short,  adopted  a  full 
program  of  welfare  work.  Mr.  McCormick  thinks 
that  "welfare  work"  is  an  unfortunate  name  for 
it,  because  it  suggests  charity.  "Wherever  you 
find  it  mixed  with  charity  you  find  it  resulting  in 
failure,"  he  says;  "no  American  wants  charity." 
The  welfare  work  of  his  company,  he  says,  is  co- 
operation, it  is  partnership.^"* 

Attitudes  towards  Profit  Sharing  and  Welfare 
Work. — Numerous  profit-sharing  plans  have  failed 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    113 

and  have  been  abandoned.  Profit-sharing  has  met 
with  objections  from  both  manager  and  worker. 
It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  a  large 
proportion  of  all  business  enterprises  fail,  a  fact 
that  men  sometimes  do  not  remember.  So  we  nec- 
essarily should  not  be  discouraged  at  occasional 
failures  in  profit-sharing  schemes.  Failures  some- 
times stimulate  men  to  try  new  methods.^^ 

Welfare  work  also  has  met  with  disapproval 
from  both  employers  and  employees.  C.  W.  Post, 
a  former  president  of  the  National  Association  of 
Manufacturers,  says,  "I  am  not  a  warm  advocate 
of  a  lot  of  foolish,  misapplied,  maudlin  sympathy 
that  has  paraded  under  the  name  of  welfare 
work.  .  .  .  Workmen  do  not  want  to  be  sub- 
jected to  a  lot  of  gifts  and  charities  that  would 
place  them  under  lasting  servile  obligations  to 
their  employer.  .  .  .  The  American  workman 
wants  an  honest,  first-class  price  for  his  labor,  and 
then  he  wants  to  be  let  alone  to  follow  his  own 
ideas  as  to  his  ways  of  life  and  the  use  of  his 
money." 

Samuel  Gompers,  President  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that,  under  the  present  industrial  order,  individuals 
have  no  control  over  the  conditions  of  their  em- 


114    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

ployment,  and  are  unable  to  furnish  for  themselves 
even  such  necessary  things  as  pure  water  and  fresh 
air.  Much  welfare  work,  in  his  opinion,  is  little 
more  than  common  decency.  Union  men  some- 
times are  suspicious  of  the  motives  of  employers; 
they  vigorously  oppose  any  attempt  to  substitute 
welfare  work  for  the  activities  of  the  union. 

The  positions  of  both  Mr.  Post  and  Mr.  Gompers 
seem  to  be  well  taken.  There  must  be  no  paternal- 
ism and  no  suggestion  of  charity  in  the  relations 
between  employer  and  employee.  On  the  other 
hand,  much  can  be  done  and  much  ought  to  be 
done  by  the  employer  as  a  matter  of  mere  justice. 
Safety  devices,  proper  ventilation,  rest  rooms, 
sanitary  toilets,  dining-rooms,  baths,  good  drink- 
ing  water  and  other  similar  provisions  maj^  be, 
and,  in  many  industries,  ought  to  be  established 
without  reference  to  "welfare  work."  If,  in  addi- 
tion, employers  will  take  a  real  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  men  who  work  with  them,  they  may  do 
much  in  helping  the  men  themselves  work  out  plans 
for  the  educational  and  social  improvement  of  all.^^ 

To-day,  it  is  ridiculous  to  assert  that  the  manage- 
ment of  a  huge  corporation,  which  affects  the 
health  and  comfort  of  thousands  of  people,  is  a 
mere  private  affair.    Society  now  says  that  a  man 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    115 

cannot  run  his  business  as  he  pleases.  The  state 
is  demanding,  through  the  acts  of  its  legislatures, 
that  industry  pay  a  fair  living  wage  and  provide 
for  the  safety  and  health  of  its  workers.  The  "cap- 
tain of  industry"  must  assume  the  responsibility 
of  an  officer  in  command.  In  foreign  lands  the  na- 
tion protects  its  citizens  with  its  flag;  it  proposes 
to  do  as  much  to  protect  its  citizens  in  industry.^^ 

Regardless  of  the  failures  of  the  past  in  profit- 
sharing  and  welfare  work,  if  business  men  are 
sincere  in  wanting  to  share  the  profits  of  industry 
with  the  workers  and  to  provide  for  their  safety, 
health  and  comfort,  they  ought  to  be  able  to  work 
out  plans  which  will  bring  about  a  real  co-operative 
spirit.  If  they  cannot,  they  should  be  willing  to 
step  aside  and  turn  over  to  the  government  the 
ownership  and  operation  of  their  industries.  It  is 
true  that  government  ownership  might  not  be 
successful;  but  private  ownership  has  not  been 
successful  either.  If  business  men  would  unite 
and  direct  their  energies  in  an  effort  to  bring  about 
better  conditions,  a  much  higher  degree  of  justice 
might  be  attained.  Poverty  in  industry  could  be 
largely  eliminated.  Men  like  Proctor,  Cox,  Nelson 
and  McCormick,  are  needed,  who  place  economic 
justice  above  private  gain.^^ 


CHAPTER  IX 

DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION — IN  AGRICULTURE  AND 
INDUSTRY 

The  production  of  wealth  constitutes  the  found- 
ation of  society.  The  men  on  the  farm  who 
produce  the  world's  food,  the  men  in  mine  and 
forest  who  take  from  the  earth  its  natural  re- 
sources, and  the  men  in  shop  and  factory  who 
make  our  clothes  and  other  necessities  of  life — 
these  producers  are  essential  to  man's  life  as  it  is 
now  organized.  Without  the  farmer  and  without 
the  industrial  worker,  our  present  civilization 
w^ould  collapse.  Fundamental  to  our  welfare  as 
are  these  two  groups  of  citizens,  they  have  been 
grossly  mistreated.  As  we  have  seen,  the  condi- 
tions under  which  many  of  them  work  and  live 
are  degraded. 

While  much  has  been  done  to  improve  conditions 
on  the  farm  and  in  industry  by  those  on  the  out- 
side, the  best  work,  in  some  respects,  is  being  done 
by  the  farmers  and  industrial  workers  themselves. 
Leaders  have  arisen  in  the  ranks  who  have  fought 

116 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    117 

courageous  and  effective  battles  for  better  condi- 
tions. The  achievements  of  a  few  of  these  leaders 
will  be  briefly  related. 

From  Farmer  to  Governor. — 'W.  D.  Hoard  was 
raised  as  a  butter  and  cheese  maker  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  went 
to  Wisconsin.  Disappointment  met  him,  for  there 
was  scarcely  a  well-bred  dairy  cow  in  the  state. 
But,  while  he  could  not  work  at  his  trade,  there 
was  plenty  of  farm  work,  and  he  was  not  idle. 

Soon  after,  in  1861,  he  enlisted  for  the  Civil 
War.  Upon  his  return  from  the  war,  he  started  a 
small  county  newspaper.  He  studied  agricultural 
conditions  in  the  state  and  found  that  the  wheat 
crop  was  steadily  dwindling.  It  had  dropped  to 
an  average  of  eight  bushels  to  the  acre,  largely 
because  the  farmers  did  not  understand  the  prin- 
ciple of  crop  rotation.  They  were  using  the  same 
land  over  and  over  for  wheat  and  were  then  moving 
on  to  other  states  to  ruin  more  land.  Through 
his  farm  paper.  Hoard  began  to  preach  dairying. 
He  issued  a  call  that  resulted  in  the  organization 
of  the  Wisconsin  Dairyman's  Association.  By 
hard  work  against  heavy  odds,  he  and  his  friends 
developed  a  successful  co-operative  organization. 
He  went  into  various  school  districts  and  held 


118    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

meetings  to  interest  the  people  in  dairying.  In 
three  years,  the  annual  production  of  cheese  had 
reached  3,000,000  pounds,  and  the  local  market 
could  not  use  it. 

At  that  time  the  freight  rate  on  cheese  from  Wis- 
consin to  New  York  City  was  $2.50  per  hundred  in 
ordinary  freight  cars.  Mr.  Hoard  went  to  Chicago 
and  called  upon  W.  W.  Chandler  of  the  Star  Union 
Refrigerating  and  Transportation  Company. 

"I  represent,"  said  Mr.  Hoard,  "three  million 
pounds  of  cheese  seeking  a  safe,  quick  and  cheap 
transportation  to  New  York  City.  What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it?" 

Mr.  Chandler  looked  up  slowly  and  asked,"  Who 
are  you  .5^" 

"I  am  W.  D.  Hoard,  Secretary  of  the  Wisconsin 
Dairyman's  Association." 

"And  what  do  you  want.''" 

"I  want  you  to  send  one  of  your  cars  to  Water- 
town  and  come  yourself  and  explain  it.  Our  people 
are  ignorant  of  your  methods  and  need  your  help. 
Then  I  want  you  to  make  a  rate  of  one  dollar  per 
one  hundred  pounds  of  cheese  in  iced  cars  from 
Wisconsin  to  New  York,  Boston  and  Philadel- 
phia." 

The  audacity  of  the  Wisconsin  farmer-journalist 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    119 

caught  the  business  man's  attention.  He  prom- 
ised to  go  and  was  as  good  as  his  word. 

The  production  of  cheese  increased  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  Wisconsin  has  become  the  largest  cheese 
and  butter  producing  state  in  the  Union.  In 
1888,  Mr.  Hoard,  who  was  then  probably  the  best 
known  man  in  the  state,  was  elected  governor. 
Later  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Board 
of  Regents  and  gave  much  time  to  the  develop- 
ment   of    the    Wisconsin    Agricultural    College.^^ 

Other  Useful  Farmers. — Dallas  H.  Gray  was  a 
young  raisin  grower  in  California.  He  had  lost 
$15,000  in  four  years,  and  determined  that  he  would 
try  a  new  plan.  He  ordered  a  freight  car,  loaded 
into  it  five  tons  of  raisins — all  the  wealth  he  pos- 
sessed in  the  world — and  went  with  the  car  to  Iowa. 
The  car  was  switched  off  the  train  at  Boone.  A 
week  later  he  had  sold  every  raisin  to  the  people 
of  the  town. 

Young  Gray  had  been  at  the  mercy  of  the  com- 
mission man;  he  had  had  to  accept  any  price  the 
commission  man  offered.  Now  he  was  free. 
Gray  had  the  courage  to  stake  all  he  possessed  on 
an  experiment.  It  was  successful  and  now  others 
are  profiting  by  his  experience.  ^°°  Farmers  are 
finding  that,  by  co-operating,  they  can  market 


120    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

their  products  without  the  aid  of  commission 
men. 

Growers  of  wheat,  raisin  growers,  almond  and 
walnut  growers,  and  citrus  fruit  growers  have  used 
the  co-operative  plan  successfully.  In  co-operation 
lies  the  hope  of  the  farmer.  More  farmers  of 
initiative  and  organizing  ability  are  needed  in  all 
kinds  of  farming  to  extend  the  plan.  The  farmer, 
himself,  can  do  this  more  successfully  than  the 
outsider. 

The  County  Agent. — A  few  years  ago,  the  County 
Farm  Bureau  movement  began  to  develop.  In 
1915,  the  farmers  of  313  counties  in  various  states 
were  organized  for  mutual  aid  with  a  salaried 
"county  agent"  or  "farm  adviser"  at  the  head  of 
each.  In  Kentucky,  where  the  farmers  of  one 
county  had  lost  in  a  year  hogs  valued  at  $225,000 
from  hog  cholera,  the  county  agent  arranged  for 
serum  treatment.  The  next  year  the  loss  was  re- 
duced to  $150,000,  and  the  following  year  to  a  bare 
$1,000. 

One  county  agent  started  seventeen  community 
clubs  in  a  district  where  the  roads  had  been  mainly 
a  succession  of  mudholes.  Co-operation  soon 
resulted  in  a  hundred  miles  of  good  roads.  The 
agent  induced  one  man  to  develop  a  lawn  and 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    121 

another  to  paint  his  house.  Within  a  year  every 
farmer  along  the  road  had  a  lawn  and  a  painted 
house. 

In  1915,  156  county  agents  submitted  reports  to 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington, 
showing  that  their  work  had  added  $10,000  to  the 
incomes  of  the  farmers  in  each  of  their  counties — 
and  the  work  of  most  of  them  had  just  begun.  ^"^ 

Social  Usefulness  in  Farming. — There  is  im- 
mense wealth  in  the  soil.  The  value  of  crops  in  the 
United  States  in  1915  was  nearly  $7,000,000,000.  i°2 
The  wretchedness  of  farm  life  is  due  largely  to 
an  unjust  distribution  of  the  profits.  The  Ameri- 
can farmer  is  entitled  to  far  more  than  he  gets. 
Three  reforms  must  be  brought  about.  First, 
an  adequate  system  of  rural  credits  must  be 
provided  so  that  the  farmer  without  large  capital 
can  properly  finance  his  work.  The  National 
Rural  Credits  bill  passed  by  Congress  in  1916  may 
meet  this  need.  In  the  opinion  of  some  men  it  is 
not  adequate.  Secondly,  co-operative  methods 
in  marketing  must  be  developed  in  order  that  the 
farmer  may  be  free  from  speculators  and  get  a 
fairer  profit.  Finally,  the  farmer  must  be  better 
educated;  scientific  agriculture  and  business  man- 
agement  must   be   taught;   the   college   must   be 


122    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

taken  to  the  farmer.  If  these  reforms  are  devel- 
oped, others  will  follow.  Good  roads,  telephones, 
modern  farm  machinery,  automobiles,  modern 
schools  and  churches,  social  life  and  opportunities 
for  literature,  music  and  art  will  be  natural  con- 
sequences. 

The  success  which  a  few  farmers  have  achieved 
is  possible  for  many  others.  There  have  been 
useful  citizens  in  rural  life  besides  ex-Governor 
Hoard.  Fourteen  men  have  gone  from  the  farm 
to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  The 
inventor  of  the  modern  plow,  Jethro  Wood,  was  a 
farmer  of  New  York  State.  McCormick  built 
his  first  reaper  in  a  barnyard.  There  are  now 
probably  twenty  thousand  graduates  of  agricul- 
tural colleges  on  the  farms  of  the  country.  In 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington  is 
employed  the  greatest  body  of  farm  scientists 
in  the  world.  ^°^  Farming  is  coming  into  its  own. 
There  are  wonderful  opportunities  for  young  men 
of  initiative  and  organizing  ability  who  will  prepare 
themselves  by  getting  a  thorough  course  in  an 
agricultural  college.  Trained  men  are  needed  on 
the  farm,  and  they  are  needed  by  Federal  and 
State  governments  for  an  increasing  number  of 
positions. 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION     123 

The  farmer  has  the  satisfaction  which  comes 
from  honest  toil  in  the  open  country  and  from  the 
knowledge  that  he  is  a  producer  of  wealth.  To 
the  farmer  of  to-day  may  come  also  the  pleasure  of 
co-operative  effort,  of  working  out  with  one's 
neighbors  enterprises  for  the  welfare  of  the  entire 
community.  Success  in  farming  will  go  hand  in 
hand  with  social  usefulness. 

A  Champion  of  Labor. — Joseph  R.  Buchanan  as 
a  youth  was  an  all-round  handy  man  in  a  small 
newspaper  office  in  Louisiana.  His  preference  was 
for  type-setting  and  he  became  a  good  compositor. 
He  moved  to  Denver,  became  a  member  of  a  Ty- 
pographical Union,  and  soon  showed  unusual  quali- 
ties of  leadership. 

At  that  time  (about  1880)  laboring  men  were  not 
well  organized.  Although  at  present  business  men 
are  beginning  to  recognize  the  right  of  laboring  men 
to  bargain  collectively  and  to  strike  if  the  terms 
of  employment  are  not  satisfactory,  at  that  time 
these  rights  generally  were  not  recognized,  there 
were  no  boards  of  arbitration,  and  laboring  men 
had  a  harder  time  than  they  have  now. 

In  May,  1885,  the  shopmen  and  trackmen  of  the 
Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway  decided  that 
they  would  no  longer  stand  treatment  which  they 


124    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

considered  tyrannical,  and  that  a  strike  was  neces- 
sary. They  appealed  to  Buchanan  for  leadership. 
He  pleaded  with  the  men  not  to  strike  at  that 
time,  because  he  thought  they  could  not  win. 
But  when  the  strike  was  voted,  he  stood  by  them. 

It  was  a  bitter  struggle.  "The  Rocky  Moun- 
tain News"  conducted  a  campaign  of  abuse 
against  the  strikers.  Mr.  Buchanan  tried  to  pre- 
vent violence,  but  notwithstanding  all  he  could 
do,  dynamite  was  used.  An  engine  was  blown 
from  the  track  and  the  situation  grew  critical. 
The  "News"  boldly  announced  that  a  committee 
had  been  formed  to  lynch  Buchanan  "immediately 
following  the  next  explosion  of  dynamite  in  con- 
nection with  the  strike." 

Buchanan  called  at  the  oflBce  of  a  skilled  detec- 
tive. "I  want  to  find  out  who  is  responsible  for  the 
dynamite  outrages  on  the  Rio  Grande  road  ..." 
said  Buchanan,  "We  want  you  to  find  the  dyna- 
miters, whether  they  are  our  friends  or  our  foes.^' 
The  fee,  the  detective  said,  would  be  $500.  Bu- 
chanan told  him  to  go  to  work  at  once. 

The  detective  was  unable  to  find  any  evidence 
indicating  that  the  strikers  had  used  dynamite. 
He  found  most  of  the  explosions  were  due  to  the 
work  of  the  railroad's  hired  guards.    Apparently, 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    125 

the  railroad  was  endeavoring  to  develop  public 
sentiment  against  the  strikers. 

Threats  against  Buchanan's  life  continued  and 
arrangements  were  made  with  the  mayor  and 
chief  of  the  fire-department  to  ring  the  bell  of  the 
central  fire-station  in  a  peculiar  way  to  call  the 
lynchers  together  when  the  time  came  to  string 
him  up.  Buchanan  considered  it  best  to  accept 
protection  and  permitted  twelve  armed  men  to 
guard  him  at  night. 

Three  members  of  the  Board  of  Trade  called  on 
him  and  requested  him  to  leave  the  city. 

"Mr.  T ,"  Buchanan  said  to  the  spokes- 
man, "you  have  known  me  ever  since  I  have  been 
in  Colorado,  about  seven  years.  .  .  .  Did  you 
ever  know  me  to  commit  a  dishonest  or  unmanly 
act.?" 

Mr.  T —  repHed  that  he  never  had,  but 

that  he  and  his  friends  wished  to  avoid  further 
violence.  He  admitted  that,  in  his  opinion, 
Buchanan  was  not  responsible  for  the  dynamiting. 
Buchanan  advised  them  to  go  to  the  oflSce  of  the 
"News"  for  the  cause  of  the  agitation. 

"As  for  me,"  said  Mr,  Buchanan,  "I  stay  right 
here.  .  .  .  All  I  have  in  this  world  is  my  good 
name  among  those  who  know  me  well,  and  the 


126    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

respect  and  confidence  of  the  laboring  people  of 
this  city,  state  and  country.  The  working  men  of 
Denver  trust  me  and  are  standing  by  me;  they, 
as  well  as  I,  are  taking  chances  in  this  fight.  I  am 
not  seeking  martyrdom,  and  hanging  is  not  the 
way  I  want  to  die;  but  I  would  rather  be  hanged 
forty  times  if  that  were  possible,  than  to  show  the 
white  flag  of  fear  to  the  men  who  are  battling  by 
my  side,  or  repay  the  trust  and  confidence  re- 
posed in  me  by  an  act  of  cowardice.  ...  I  can- 
not  for   a   moment   entertain   your   suggestion." 

Thus  Joseph  R.  Buchanan  fought  for  the  men 
who  had  refused  to  take  his  advice.  The  men  lost 
the  strike,  but,  to  the  cause  of  labor,  the  defeat  was 
only  a  temporary  one.  Buchanan  has  given  his 
entire  life  to  his  fellow  men.  He  has  helped  the 
unions  win  strikes  and  has  served  the  cause  in 
many  ways.^""* 

A  Leader  of  Miners. — John  Mitchell  was  the  son 
of  a  coal  miner  in  Illinois.  His  mother  died  when 
he  was  less  than  three  years  old.  When  John  was 
six,  his  father  was  brought  home  from  the  mine 
dead.  At  twelve,  John  was  a  breakerboy  in  the 
mines.  At  sixteen  he  was  president  of  an  athletic 
club  of  young  miners.  Down  in  the  mines,  he 
studied   arithmetic  while   waiting  for   cars.     He 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    127 

joined  debating  societies,  athletic  associations, 
political  reform  clubs.  While  still  a  youth  he  be- 
came President  of  a  Knights  of  Labor  *' Local.'* 
He  has  been  the  President  or  leading  spirit  of  some 
progressive  movement  ever  since.  He  quickly 
made  friends  and  was  rapidly  promoted  to  posi- 
tions of  trust.  Before  he  was  thirty,  Mitchell  was 
elected  President  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of 
America. 

Mr.  Mitchell  had  been  in  office  less  than  four 
years  when  he  was  called  upon  to  conduct  the 
greatest  strike  in  the  history  of  the  labor  move- 
ment. Believing  that  they  were  justly  entitled  to 
higher  wages,  147,000  men  and  boys  laid  down 
their  tools  for  an  indefinite  period.  The  supply  of 
fuel  for  thousands  of  people  was  suddenly  cut  off. 
The  strike  was  a  long  and  hard  one.  There  was 
much  suffering.  President  Roosevelt  decided  to 
intervene  and  called  together  for  a  conference  the 
railroad  men  who  controlled  the  mines  and  the 
officers  of  the  Mine  Workers.  An  impassioned 
discussion  followed. 

"There  was  only  one  man  in  the  room  who 
behaved  like  a  gentleman,"  said  Mr.  Roosevelt, 
"and  that  man  was  not  I."  Everyone  lost  his 
temper  except  Mitchell.     Though  the  most  bit- 


128    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

terly  assailed,  he  was  the  quietest  and  most 
dignified  man  in  the  room.  Unmoved  by  the 
attacks  of  his  opponents,  he  cahuly  offered  to 
submit  all  questions  in  dispute  to  a  commission  to 
be  appointed  by  the  President,  and  to  abide  by 
the  commission's  decision,  even  if  the  miners  were 
not  granted  a  single  concession.  The  public  was 
eagerly  awaiting  developments.  Mitchell  won  the 
people  to  his  side  by  his  fairness.  The  public 
forced  arbitration.     The  miners  won  the  strike. 

Mr.  Mitchell  is  a  keen,  cool-headed,  sympathetic 
advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  worker.  He  feels  the 
sufferings  of  the  class  to  which  he  belongs.  He  is 
scrupulously  honest.  The  story  is  told  of  a  man 
who  went  to  see  Mitchell,  determined  to  bribe 
him  regardless  of  what  it  might  cost.  He  went  to 
Mr.  Mitchell's  hotel  with  the  money  in  a  valise. 
They  discussed  the  weather,  and  then  the  visitor 
left.  Standing  in  the  presence  of  John  Mitchell, 
the  man  was  unable  to  muster  the  courage  to  pro- 
pose his  dishonorable  scheme. 

When  Mr.  Mitchell  became  president  of  the 
United  Mine  Workers,  the  organization  had 
43,000  members.  He  built  up  the  membership  to 
300,000  with  a  contingent  support  of  200,000  more. 
Though  placed  in  a  position  which  requires  his 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    129 

leadership  in  strikes,  he  is  a  peace-loving  man.  He 
is  unfailingly  courteous  to  all.  No  miner  grimy 
with  coal  dust,  no  door  boy,  no  mule  feeder  who 
comes  to  him  fails  to  receive  a  pleasant  greeting. 
When  forced  to  fight,  he  fights  in  the  open.  As  a 
speaker,  he  resorts  to  none  of  the  tricks  of  the 
unscrupulous  agitator.  He  is  clear,  logical  and 
convincing.  Though  he  believes  thoroughly  in 
short  hours  for  his  friends  in  the  mines,  he  works 
long  hours  himself — usually  nine  to  twelve  hours  a 
day.  During  the  big  strike,  he  generally  worked 
fifteen  hours  a  day.  Only  a  vigorous  man  could 
stand  the  tremendous  tasks  he  undertakes.  Mr. 
Mitchell  has  no  political  ambitions.  He  is  not  a 
socialist.  He  is  first  and  always  a  trade  unionist 
and  gives  his  life,  without  reserve,  to  the  cause  of 
his  fellow  workers. ^°^ 

It  is  beheved  by  many  that  most  poverty  and 
much  crime  and  disease  are  due  to  an  unjust  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  and  income.  Laboring  men 
are  demanding  more  and  more  vigorously  a  larger 
share  in  the  profits  of  industry  and  a  larger  share 
in  its  control. 

Economists  agree  that  there  is  injustice  and  that 
laboring  men  are  entitled  to  a  larger  share  in  the 
control  and  in  the  profits  of  industry.     In  order 


130    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

to  exercise  larger  control,  laboring  men  must 
educate  themselves  and  develop  wise  and  unsel- 
fish leaders.  Unions  have  been  known  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  unscrupulous  labor  leaders  who  are 
in  the  game  for  all  the  money  they  can  get  out  of  it. 
There  is  a  pressing  need  for  educated  men  in 
industry, — for  more  men  like  John  Mitchell. 
Leaders  are  needed  who  have  a  knowledge  of 
economics  and  sociology,  and  who  can  deal  cour- 
teously and  convincingly  with  employers  and  with 
legislatures.  Men  are  needed  who  are  able  to 
develop  educational  work  among  labor  unions, 
and  who  are  able  to  extend  unionism  among  un- 
organized laborers.  The  youth  who  masters  a 
trade,  who  is  honest,  courageous  and  sympathetic 
and  who  has  qualities  of  leadership  may  do  much 
in  safe-guarding  the  nation  against  decadence  by 
working  among  his  fellow  men  in  industry. 


CHAPTER  X 

DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION — IN  ORGANIZED  SOCIAL 
WORK 

Certain  men  in  business  and  professional  life  have 
been  effective  in  the  fight  against  disease,  crime 
and  poverty,  first,  by  working  independently  in 
their  vocations,  and,  secondly,  by  working  with 
others  in  definitely  organized  movements.  Charles 
R.  Henderson,  for  instance,  did  valuable  work  as  a 
teacher;  and  as  president  of  The  National  Prison 
Association,  he  also  played  an  important  part  in 
the  prison  reform  movement.  Louis  D.  Brandeis, 
as  we  have  seen,  did  much  for  the  cause  of  labor 
personally  as  a  lawyer;  he  also  rendered  valuable 
service  as  the  Legal  Adviser  of  the  National  Con- 
sumers' League.  Jacob  Riis  was  primarily  a 
journalist,  but  was  also  actively  identified  with 
social  settlement  work,  playground  work,  and 
other  organized  movements. 

Other  men  have  thrown  all  their  energies  into 
some  particular  phase  of  the  warfare  against 
social    evils,    as    employed    executive   officers    of 

131 


132    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

organized  social  movements  and  institutions.  The 
work  of  a  few  such  men  will  be  briefly  described. 

The  Secretary  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee.— Owen  R.  Lovejoy  came  from  a  family  of 
good,  plain  people  in  Michigan.  As  a  youth  he 
learned  what  hard  work  means,  and  now  bears  the 
scar  of  an  accident  in  a  furniture  factory.  He  ob- 
tained part  of  his  training  by  getting  a  college 
education.  During  the  big  coal  strike  in  1902,  he 
investigated  conditions  in  the  coal  fields  and 
learned  much  about  child  labor. 

When  in  1904,  the  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee was  organized,  he  was  asked  to  investigate 
conditions  further.  He  was  ready  and  glad  to 
accept.  He  wrote,  "After  I  had  seen  those  little 
boys  day  after  day  carrying  their  lunch-pails  to  the 
breakers  every  morning  like  grown  men,  bending 
all  day  over  dusty  coal  chutes,  sometimes  suffering 
accidents  in  the  chutes,  and  finally  dragging  them- 
selves home  at  night  in  the  dark,  I  couldn't  think 
of  anything  else.  Sights  like  that  cling  to  you.  I 
dreamed  about  those  boys." 

As  an  officer  of  the  Committee,  Mr.  Lovejoy 
investigated  glass  factories,  fish  canneries  and 
cotton  mills,  until  he  knew  at  first  hand  much 
about  child  labor.     Then  he  became  the  general 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    133 

secretary  of  the  Committee.  He  has  developed  an 
effective  organization  with  a  corps  of  assistants 
and  executive  oflScers  in  New  York  City. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  is  a  hard  worker  and  gives  hun- 
dreds of  talks  and  lectures.  "We  would  have  all 
America  with  us  if  we  could  only  tell  them  all 
about  it,"  he  says.  So  he  reaches  all  the  people 
he  can  by  his  personal  efforts  on  the  lecture  plat- 
form. He  speaks  to  an  audience  of  school  children 
one  day,  to  laboring  men  the  next,  club  women  the 
next,  and  business  men  the  next. 

On  the  walls  of  Mr.  Lovejoy's  office  are  four 
maps  showing  the  development  of  child  labor 
legislation  over  the  United  States.  There  is  a 
map  to  correspond  with  each  of  four  important 
child  labor  laws.  On  these  maps,  the  states  that 
have  the  law  show  white,  those  that  have  not,  black. 
Mr.  Lovejoy's  idea  of  a  good  map  is  a  perfectly 
white  one. 

Owen  R.  Lovejoy  is  a  fighter.  And  he  is  the 
kind  of  fighter  who  can  take  defeat  with  courage. 
He  may  report  at  the  end  of  a  year  of  campaigning 
fifteen  victories  and  ten  defeats — or  it  may  have 
been  ten  victories  and  fifteen  defeats — then  go 
right  to  work  to  turn  the  defeats  into  victories 
the  next  year.     Largely  through  Mr.  Lovejoy's 


134    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

efforts,  thousands  of  children  have  been  rescued 
from  industrial  slavery  and  have  been  given  a 
fairer  chance  in  life.^°® 

A  Prison  Warden. — A  few  years  ago,  Thomas  M. 
Osborne,  a  wealthy  citizen  of  Auburn,  New  York, 
was  made  chairman  of  the  State  Commission  on 
prison  reform.  Desiring  to  learn  of  conditions  at 
first  hand,  he  spent  a  week  as  a  prisoner  in  the 
Auburn  State  Penitentiary,  living  in  every  respect 
like  the  other  prisoners.  He  wore  the  prisoner's 
stripes;  he  lived  in  a  small  stone  cell;  he  did  his 
daily  work  for  a  cent  and  a  half  a  day;  he  disobeyed 
the  rules  and  was  committed  to  a  dark  dungeon. 
Osborne  discovered  for  himself  some  of  the  evils 
we  have  discussed  here.  He  wrote  a  book  describ- 
ing his  experiences  and  aroused  the  attention  of 
the  public  to  the  cruel  methods  of  New  York  State 
Prisons. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  appointed  Mr.  Os- 
borne warden  of  Sing  Sing  prison.  Not  needing 
the  salary  attached  to  the  position,  he  paid  it  to 
an  assistant.  Osborne's  purpose  was  to  change 
the  wretched  conditions  of  the  prison.  He  quickly 
won  the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  the  men. 
A  Mutual  Welfare  League  was  organized.  In  a 
short  time,  hundreds  of  prisoners  who  had  been 


'-a  S 

c    d 
■  -    o 


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O  .5 


^    J3 


E-  .2 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    135 

bitter  and  vengeful,  were  aiding  him  to  keep  the 
men  decent  and  orderly.  He  took  away  the  guards 
from  the  workshops,  he  permitted  conversation 
during  work  hours,  and  increased  the  output  of 
the  workshops  over  fifty  per  cent.  Under  the  old 
system,  when  a  prisoner  escaped  there  was  great 
rejoicing;  under  Mr.  Osborne's  administration,  the 
prisoners  sought  to  prevent  escapes. 

On  one  occasion,  when  a  prisoner  escaped,  six  of 
his  fellow  prisoners  came  to  Mr.  Osborne. 

"Can't  we  go  out  and  hunt  for  that  fellow?'* 
they  asked. 

The  spokesman  had  been  in  prison  for  eight 
years  and  had  twelve  more  to  serve.  Osborne  de- 
cided to  let  him  go.  Fifteen  went  out  and  hunted 
all  night  for  the  escaped  convict.  They  were  with 
officers,  but  there  were  opportunities  to  escape. 
Every  man  came  back. 

Exercise  was  provided,  a  band  was  organized, 
educational  classes  were  introduced,  and  the  use 
of  drugs  was  virtually  stopped  with  the  aid  of  the 
League.  Best  of  all,  men  left  the  prison,  deter- 
mined to  live  better  lives.  ^"^ 

Mr.  Osborne  had  great  difficulties  in  his  work, 
not  because  of  the  prisoners,  but  because  of  selfish 
politicians  who  were  profiting  by  the  old  methods. 


136    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

In  1915,  he  was  dismissed  from  oflBce.  When 
tried,  he  was  acquitted  on  every  charge,  and,  in 
July,  1916,  was  reinstated,  much  to  the  disappoint- 
ment of  the  grafters.  Later  it  seemed  best  for  him 
to  resign  and  to  take  up  the  work  of  prison  reform 
in  larger  fields. 

When  a  man  begins  a  fight  that  necessarily  in- 
terferes with  the  financial  interests  of  others,  he 
must  be  so  clean  and  so  honest  that  he  can  say  to 
the  world:  Make  your  charges  and  appoint  your 
investigation  committees,  I  have  nothing  in  my 
life  to  conceal. 

For  years,  we  have  been  maintaining  prisons 
that  have  been  turning  out  into  the  world  men 
less  able  to  cope  with  the  problems  of  society  and 
make  an  honest  living  than  when  they  entered. 
Men  trained  in  the  science  of  government  are 
needed  to  bring  about  changes  in  our  prison  laws. 
Men  trained  in  psychology  are  needed  to  study 
crime  scientifically  and  introduce  new  methods  of 
treating  those  who  have  fallen  in  the  struggle  for 
existence. 

The  Founder  of  the  Adirondack  Cottage  Sanita- 
rium.— ^When  Edward  Livingston  Trudeau  was  a 
young  man,  an  elder  brother  was  stricken  with 
tuberculosis.    Edward  nursed  him  up  to  the  hour  of 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    137 

his  death  six  months  later.  He  was  graduated  from 
the  New  York  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
and  practiced  medicine  in  New  York  City.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-five,  he  himself  was  pronounced 
tuberculous  and  was  ordered  to  leave  New  York. 
He  went  to  the  mountains  and  was  then  not  ex- 
pected to  live  six  months. 

While  living  in  the  mountains,  Trudeau  and  his 
family  were  taking  a  short  trip,  and  were  caught  in 
a  blizzard.  The  horses  fell  exhausted  and  all  were 
forced  to  remain  in  the  snow  for  two  days.  Tru- 
deau seemed  none  the  worse  for  this  ordeal  and 
began  to  consider  the  advisability  of  spending  a 
winter  in  the  bracing  air  of  the  Adirondacks.  His 
medical  advisers  considered  the  proposal  as  a  kind 
of  suicidal  mania,  all  except  one  of  them  and  his 
wife.  In  those  days  the  value  of  fresh  air  had  not 
been  recognized.  Trudeau  carried  out  the  experi- 
ment and  improved  greatly  in  health.  Soon  he 
was  able  to  practice  medicine  among  the  mountain 
people.  Often  he  would  travel  forty  miles  a  day; 
and  he  would  go  out  in  all  sorts  of  weather.  His 
sympathetic  manner  helped  to  make  him  success- 
ful. Half  of  his  bills  were  never  rendered;  his  pur- 
pose was  to  help  those  who  needed  him.  Tears 
came  into  the  eyes  of  many  a  woman  when  she  saw 


138    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

him  in  later  years;  and  men  called  him  "the  be- 
loved physician."  He  lived  the  life  of  the  people, 
often  hunting  and  fishing  in  the  wilderness. 

It  is  said  that  a  local  boxing  champion  once 
coaxed  the  doctor  to  put  on  the  gloves  with  him. 

"I  promise  not  to  hurt  ye,"  he  said. 

When  the  "champion"  picked  himself  up  at  the 
end  of  the  bout,  he  said  that  "the  doctor's  the 
quickest  thing  with  mitts  I  ever  run  up  agin!" 

Four  years  after  Dr.  Trudeau  left  New  York 
City,  he  had  a  few  tuberculosis  patients  who  had 
placed  themselves  in  his  care  as  a  last  hope  of 
prolonged  life  or  cure.  At  about  this  time,  Tru- 
deau dreamed  a  dream.  He  saw  the  forest  around 
him  melt  away  and  the  whole  mountain  side  be- 
come dotted  with  houses  built  inside  out,  as  if  the 
inhabitants  lived  on  the  outside.  He  made  the 
dream  come  true.  The  Adirondack  Cottage 
Sanitarium  was  started  and  soon  became  famous 
throughout  the  country.  Trudeau's  success  in 
treating  tuberculosis  by  the  open-air  and  rest 
method  attracted  wide  attention.  Other  sani- 
tariums sprang  up.  To-day  there  are  fully  five 
hundred  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Ed- 
ward Trudeau  taught  the  world  the  value  of  fresh 
air. 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    139 

The  Adirondack  Cottage  Sanitarium  is  a  semi- 
charitable  institution  that  treats  patients  at  a  sum 
that  does  not  cover  the  cost  of  their  board  and 
lodging.  The  deficit  is  made  up  by  contributions 
from  public-spirited  persons.  Trudeau  used  to 
raise  this  deficit  by  what  he  called  his  "begging 
letters."  Edward  H.  Harriman  was  a  friend  and 
admirer  of  Trudeau  and  his  work  for  humanity. 
This  railroad  king  would  let  great  affairs  hang 
fire  as  he  listened  to  the  doctor  tell  of  the  develop- 
ment of  his  work  at  the  sanitarium.  Trudeau 
drew  no  salary,  but  earned  a  small  income  from 
his  private  practice. 

Probably  many  failed  to  understand  the  wonder- 
ful spirit  of  the  man.    A  doubter  wrote : — 

"What  sort  of  man  is  Trudeau?  Is  he  what 
so  many  say  he  is,  or  just  a  clever  doctor  who 
has  made  a  fortune  out  of  the  Adirondacks.'*" 

The  great,  generous  spirit  of  Trudeau  was 
always  puzzled  to  know  why  people  failed  to  un- 
derstand his  work.  He  had  his  reward,  however, 
in  the  satisfaction  that  comes  to  a  man,  who, 
though  laboring  against  heavy  odds,  succeeds  in 
bringing  happiness  and  health  to  others.  ^°^ 

A  Secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion.— John  R.  Mott  attended  Cornell  University 


140    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

about  thirty  years  ago  and  distinguished  himself  as 
a  student.  Soon  after  graduating  he  became  the 
head  of  the  Student  Department  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  of  North  America. 
Now,  he  is  General  Secretary  of  the  International 
Committee,  the  highest  position  in  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  of  the  world.  The 
work  of  this  institution  is  the  making  of  well 
balanced  men — men  strong  in  body,  mind  and 
spirit.  Many  men  are  going  out  from  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  to  assume  positions  of  large  useful- 
ness in  campaigns  against  disease,  crime  and 
poverty. 

Mr.  Mott  has  rare  executive  capacity.  Al- 
though his  responsibilities  have  grown  immensely 
year  by  year,  he  is  always  ahead  of  his  work.  His 
capacity  for  steady  work  at  high  pressure  is  so 
great  as  to  wear  out  any  associate  who  tries  to 
keep  pace  with  him.  Though  he  was  ranked  high 
as  a  student  of  philosophy  in  college,  he  is  pri- 
marily a  man  of  will  and  of  action.  He  reads 
the  biographies  of  great  generals,  whose  strategy 
he  tries  to  match  in  the  field  of  organized 
religion. 

Mr.  Mott's  field  of  activity  is  the  entire  world. 
He  has  travelled  around  the  world  at  least  five 


6C 

CO 

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DEFENDERS  OF  THE   NATION     141 

times,  and  has  made  many  other  trips  to  South 
America,  South  Africa  and  Asia.  His  recent  book, 
"The  Present  World  Situation"  calls  upon  the 
church  to  prove  itself  equal  to  the  present  world 
crisis. 

Yale  University  conferred  upon  Mr.  Mott  the 
degree  M.  A.  in  1899,  and  in  1910,  the  University 
of  Edinburgh  honored  him  with  the  degree  of 
LL.  D.  President  Wilson  offered  him  the  post  of 
Ambassador  to  China,  but  Mr.  Mott  felt  obliged 
to  refuse.  In  1916,  President  Wilson  appointed 
him  one  of  the  three  American  members  of  the 
Mexican  Commission, ^''^  and,  in  1917,  a  member 
of  the  War  Commission  to  Russia. 

Many  other  men  might  be  mentioned  who,  as 
employed  oflScers  in  organized  social  movements, 
are  giving  their  lives  in  the  warfare  against  disease, 
crime  and  poverty.  Robert  A.  Woods  of  the 
South  End  House  (Boston's  well  known  Social 
Settlement),  Peter  Roberts,  Immigration  Secre- 
tary of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association; 
Edward  T.  Devine  of  the  New  York  School  of 
Philanthropy,  Paul  U.  Kellogg  of  The  Survey,  Gra- 
ham Taylor  of  Chicago  Commons,  Raymond  Rob- 
bins  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
Rabbi  Stephen  S.  Wise  and  others  in  the  fields  of 


142    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

Public  Recreation,  Housing,  Organized  Charity 
and  institutional  work  are  rendering  service  of  in- 
estimable value.  As  soldiers  on  the  firing  line, 
they  should  be  numbered  among  the  bravest  of 
the  nation's  defenders. 


CHAPTER  XI 

DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION IN  AVOCATIONS 

Many  men  will  find  that  they  are  not  fitted  for 
the  more  conspicuous  forms  of  service  that  have 
been  discussed.  Some  will  find  that  their  occupa- 
tions do  not  offer  sufficient  opportunity  for  public 
service.  Every  man,  however,  regardless  of  his 
vocation,  can  take  up  some  form  of  service  as  an 
avocation. 

The  work  of  three  men  who  have  given  much  of 
their  lives  in  such  service  will  be  related  briefly. 

A  Railroad  President  who  Defended  Public  In- 
terests.— William  H.  Baldwin,  Junior,  was  a  whole- 
some and  happy  boy.  In  preparatory  school,  he 
was  a  leader.  If  anything  was  to  be  organized,  from 
a  baseball  team  to  a  musical  quartette,  he  was  the 
one  most  likely  to  be  chosen  for  the  task.  At 
Harvard,  he  was  a  member  of  his  class  crew  for 
two  years,  and  participated  in  many  college 
activities.  He  was  sincere  and  straightforward 
and  had  contempt  for  shams  and  empty  forms. 
From  his  college  education  he  acquired  the  ability 

143 


144    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

to  get  at  the  heart  of  a  knotty  subject.  Irrelevant 
details  did  not  confuse  him;  he  was  quick  to  see 
the  main  issue. 

After  graduation  from  college,  Baldwin  had 
diflSculty  in  choosing  a  vocation.  He  was  earnestly 
interested  in  social  problems  and  what  a  college 
man  could  do  about  them.  "I  am  sure  of  one 
thing,"  he  said.  "I  want  to  work  for  humanity." 
The  ministry,  medicine  and  law  were  in  turn 
considered.  He  was  advised  to  take  up  the  law  if 
he  could  put  his  whole  soul  into  it;  but  this,  he 
thought  he  could  not  do.  After  months  of  indeci- 
sion, his  choice  was  quick  and  confident.  He  ac- 
cepted a  position  with  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad, 
and  entered  upon  his  work  with  enthusiasm.  He 
was  promoted  rapidly  and  at  the  age  of  thirty-three 
was  President  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad.  This 
position  he  held  until  his  death  in  1905. 

Baldwin  went  into  the  railroad  business  with 
high  ideals  and  adhered  to  them  throughout  his 
career.  He  loved  to  succeed  and  make  money, 
yet  he  would  coolly  turn  down  chances  which 
would  have  netted  him  thousands  of  dollars,  when 
the  methods  involved  were  against  his  principles. 
Said  a  lifelong  friend,  "His  whole  idea  of  the 
railroad  was  to  develop  it  in  the  interest  of  every- 


William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr. 
Harnessed    though    he    was    to    a    great    corporation,    Mr.    Baldwin 
championed  the  cause  of  the  common  people. 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    145 

body  along  the  route.  Its  prosperity  was  to  be  the 
common  prosperity."  This  was  at  a  time  when 
other  railroad  men  were  exploiting  the  public  by 
dishonest  methods.  Baldwin  wrote  to  a  friend, 
"I  am  not  a  sentimentalist  .  .  .  but  every  day 
makes  me  more  and  more  convinced  I  can  carry 
out  my  ideals." 

As  an  employer,  he  was  invariably  fair.  He 
believed  strongly  in  labor  unions,  and  in  the  right 
of  laboring  men  to  bargain  collectively.  He  was 
democratic  and  had  genuine  sympathy  with  his 
fellow  men  throughout  the  railroad  system.  At 
one  time,  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the  running 
expenses  of  his  road.  He  studied  the  problem 
thoroughly  and  sympathetically.  In  the  end,  he 
cut  the  wages  of  the  men  ten  per  cent,  and  set  a 
minimum  below  which  no  man  should  be  paid. 
Then  he  cut  his  own  salary  fifteen  per  cent. 

Though  Baldwin  was  an  exceedingly  busy  rail- 
road man,  he  was  seldom  too  busy  to  lend  a  helping 
hand  to  one  in  need.  From  the  window  of  an 
elevated  train,  he  saw  upon  the  street  the  white 
face  of  a  child  that  had  in  it  an  appeal  of  suffering 
he  could  not  resist.  He  abruptly  left  the  train  and 
found  that  the  child  needed  hospital  treatment. 
Then  he  was  not  satisfied  until  the  child  was  safely 


146    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

lodged  with  proper  care  in  a  hospital.  Baldwin 
heard  that  a  woman  had  been  committed  unjustly 
to  a  New  York  State  Prison.  He  found  convincing 
evidence  of  her  innocence,  and  obtained  her  par- 
don from  Theodore  Roosevelt,  then  Governor. 
On  an  European  trip,  he  found  a  distressed  woman 
with  a  sick  child.  Her  stateroom  accommoda- 
tions were  poor.  His  own  spacious  quarters  be- 
came at  once  uncomfortable  to  him,  and  he  gave 
them  up  to  the  mother  and  child. 

Baldwin  was  alive  to  the  big  problems  of  human 
life  and  undertook  much  public  work.  His  chief 
avocations  were  the  education  of  the  negro  and 
the  fight  against  commercialized  prostitution. 

He  became  a  fellow  student  of  the  negro  problem 
with  Booker  Washington  and  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Tuskegee  Institute. 
He  literally  lived  with  the  problems  of  the  institu- 
tion day  and  night.  In  one  of  Baldwin's  visits,  last- 
ing several  days,  he  became  so  absorbed  in  the 
work  that  Mrs.  Booker  Washington  wrote  her 
husband  (temporarily  absent)  that  she  could  not 
bear  to  see  the  intensity  with  which  he  gave  him- 
self to  his  investigations.  He  looked,  she  wrote,  as 
if  he  would  "burn  up."  He  became  absorbed  in 
individual  negro  bovs  and  girls  who  seemed  to 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION     147 

need  special  attention.  Baldwin  at  one  time  under- 
took the  financial  reorganization  of  the  Institute. 
He  gave  the  task  the  same  kind  of  attention  he 
would  have  given  the  reorganization  of  a  railroad. 
Over  important  speeches,  Baldwin  would  spend 
hours  with  Booker  Washington,  sometimes  not 
breaking  up  the  conferences  until  after  midnight. 
He  became  one  of  President  Roosevelt's  advisers 
on  problems  of  the  South. 

To  the  still  more  difficult  problem  of  commer- 
cialized prostitution,  Mr.  Baldwin  gave  the  same 
careful  study.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Fifteen  in  New  York,  which  has  become  famous 
for  its  pioneer  work.  After  a  hard  day  in  his 
office,  he  would  give  his  attention  to  the  affairs 
of  the  committee,  sometimes  superintending  the 
details  of  the  work  till  the  small  hours  of  the 
morning.  No  amount  of  work  seemed  too  arduous 
for  him.  Fear  of  ridicule  and  adverse  criticism 
could  not  stop  him. 

As  the  most  aggressive  worker  on  the  committee, 
he  necessarily  aroused  the  antagonism  of  the 
political  machine  in  New  York.  This  was  when 
he  was  President  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad, 
which  was  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  system. 
As  a  railroad  president,  it  was  important  for  him 


148    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

not  to  incur  the  ill  will  of  the  politicians.  He  knew 
his  reform  work  might  be  criticised  by  his  supe- 
riors, and  he  made  his  decision.  Selfish  interests 
must  not  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  Committee; 
the  women  and  children  of  New  York  must  be 
protected  from  the  evils  of  prostitution,  and  he 
must  stay  by  his  post  of  duty.  He  sent  his  resigna- 
tion to  President  Cassett  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Company.  To  the  credit  of  Mr.  Cassett,  it  was 
not  accepted. 

Mr.  Baldwin's  friends  believed  he  was  able  to  do 
more  for  Society  as  a  business  man  than  he  could 
do  by  giving  all  his  time  to  social  reform.  His 
passion,  however,  was  for  service  to  mankind. 
It  is  possible  that,  had  he  lived  longer,  he  would 
have  dropped  his  business  altogether.  He  asked, 
"Harnessed  into  a  great  corporation  as  I  am,  can 
one  really  fight  for  the  big  human  causes?  Can 
one,  through  thick  and  thin,  defend  his  own  cor- 
porate interests  and  at  the  same  time  defend 
public  interests.'*" 

He  answered  the  question  by  his  life.  He 
succeeded  in  serving  humanity  as  a  business 
man.''" 

Two  Bankers  who  Served  Their  City  and  State. — • 
Charles  W.  Garfield  lives  in  Grand  Rapids,  Michi- 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    149 

gan.  His  vocation  is  banking.  His  avocation  is 
the  planning  of  parks  and  playgrounds. 

He  was  graduated  from  the  Michigan  Agricul- 
tural College,  later  was  an  instructor  there  and  then 
became  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture. Largely  as  a  result  of  his  enthusiastic  work, 
the  city  has  taken  all  sorts  of  vacant  lots  and 
blocks  and  turned  them  into  parks.  Some  are 
close  to  great  factories.  He  also  aided  in  making 
playgrounds.  Now  there  is  a  playground  within 
a  half  mile  of  every  child  in  the  city.  They  are 
well  equipped  with  pools,  tennis  courts  and  ball 
fields.  In  this  work,  he  has  waged  an  indirect, 
but  effective  fight  against  juvenile  delinquency 
and  crime. 

Mr.  Garfield's  greatest  joy  is  in  the  fact  that  the 
working  men  of  the  city  share  its  beauty.  It  is  a 
city  full  of  trim  little  houses.  Through  the  policy 
of  the  bank  of  which  he  is  the  head,  hundreds  of 
laboring  men  have  been  able  to  own  homes  of 
their  own.  Mr.  Garfield's  main  aim  in  life  is  to 
make  Grand  Rapids  the  finest  city  in  the  world 
to  live  in.^^^ 

Thomas  M.  Mulry,  of  New  York,  who  died 
recently,  was  the  president  of  the  largest  savings 
bank  in  the  world  in  point  of  deposits  and  assets. 


150    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

As  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  the 
State  Constitutional  Convention,  and  other  sim- 
ilar bodies  he  rendered  effective  service  to  city 
and  state.  Mr.  Mulry  was  a  man  of  immense 
capacity  for  work ;  and  for  every  hour  he  gave  to  his 
business,  he  gave  another  hour  to  public  service.  He 
could  be  found  engaged  in  social  work  in  the  early 
hours  of  the  day  long  before  most  business  men 
begin  work,  and  late  at  night  when  others  were 
at  home.^^^ 

An  Avocation  of  Students. — Not  only  may  busi- 
ness and  professional  men  perform  social  service 
as  an  avocation,  students  also  may. 

On  a  rough  bench  in  a  box  car,  near  a  rusty  iron 
stove,  in  which  a  roaring  fire  burned,  sat  five 
Greek  laborers.  Before  them  stood  a  college 
student. 

"I  am  going  to  teach  you  a  lesson  about  *  Getting 
up  in  the  Morning,'"  he  said.  Most  of  the  Greeks 
seemed  not  to  understand  a  word  he  said.  He 
began  stretching  himself,  yawning,  and  pretending 
to  wash  and  put  on  his  clothes.  The  men  under- 
stood. By  watching  his  actions  and  imitating 
his  words,  the  Greeks  soon  memorized  "awake,'* 
"open,"  "find,"  "see."  Though  tired,  they  were 
eager  to  learn.    Thus  the  lesson  proceeded. 


An  Immigrant  Boy 
Will  he  become  a  wrecker  or  a  builder  of  society? 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    151 

Hundreds  of  college  students  are  giving  freely  of 
their  time  under  the  direction  of  the  Student 
Department  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation in  an  effort  to  Americanize  the  foreign- 
born,  by  teaching  them  the  English  language. 
When  men  come  to  America  from  Italy,  Greece, 
Bulgaria,  Hungary  and  other  countries,  knowing 
nothing  of  our  language,  our  customs,  and  our 
government,  and  having  only  vague  ideas  about 
liberty  and  citizenship,  is  it  any  wonder  that, 
when  oppression  comes,  we  have  such  outbreaks 
as  the  one  at  the  steel  mills  in  East  Youngs- 
town? 

The  movement  is  enlisting  many  of  the  strongest 
men  in  the  colleges,  and  they  are  not  only  rendering 
valuable  service  to  the  nation,  but  they  also  are 
broadening  their  own  education,  by  studying  at 
first  hand  the  problems  of  industry. 

"My  class  of  Italians,"  one  of  them  reported, 
"is  composed  of  the  finest  fellows  I've  ever  met; 
bright,  earnest,  good-natured,  appreciative  to  an 
embarrassing  extent.  They  have  done  me  more 
good  than  I  have  ever  done  them."  ^^^ 

If  more  college  students  would  get  into  close 
touch  with  laborers,  there  would  be  fewer  mis- 
understandings between  capital  and  labor,  when 


152    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

the  students,  in  later  years,  assume  positions  of 
responsibility  in  business  and  professional  life. 

Thoughtless  Imitation  vs.  Intelligent  Service. — 
Mr.  Baldwin,  Mr.  Garfield,  Mr.  Mulry  and  many 
business  men  have  rendered  intelligent  service. 
There  are  other  men,  unfortunately,  who  are  less 
discriminating.  They  get  caught  in  the  enthusiasm 
of  some  public  enterprise  and  do  not  stop  to  ask 
what  good  it  will  do. 

An  enterprising  city  has  a  population,  let  us  say, 
of  140,000.  It  wants  to  grow  bigger.  A  "200,000 
Club"  is  started.  Everyone  is  asked  to  join,  pay 
a  membership  fee  of  a  dollar  or  more,  and  wear  a 
button.  The  money  is  used  to  advertise  the  city, 
to  get  people  living  in  the  country  or  in  other  cities 
to  move  there. 

The  motives  of  those  who  join  this  club  seem 
most  commendable:  they  show  fine  public  spirit. 
Perhaps  they  are  not  close  students  of  social 
problems,  but  certainly,  they  would  say,  it  is 
natural  and  good  for  cities  to  grow. 

But  let  us  see  why  a  city  with  140,000  should 
want  200,000.  Large  cities  offer  greater  opportu- 
nities for  people  to  enjoy  music,  drama  and  art, 
and  to  hear  and  see  the  great  men  of  the  nation. 
Large  cities  can  develop  great  park  and  boulevard 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    153 

systems.  A  larger  population  will  bring  more 
business  to  the  merchants,  lawyers  and  doctors 
of  a  city;  but  it  will  also  bring  more  merchants, 
lawyers  and  doctors.  There  are  other  considera- 
tions. Does  a  substantial  growth  in  population 
generally  reduce  tuberculosis  and  venereal  disease  .^^ 
Does  it  make  the  city  healthier  to  live  in  and  de- 
crease the  death  rate.f*  Does  it  give  better  homes 
to  working  men  and  reduce  poverty.'*  Does  it 
lessen  juvenile  delinquency  and  crime.'*  In  some 
cities,  growth  seems  to  have  resulted  in  a  dis- 
proportional  increase  of  disease,  crime  and  poverty. 
If  a  city  does  not  prepare  properly  for  develop- 
ment, the  evils  accompanying  growth  may  counter- 
balance the  advantages  to  be  gained. 

In  another  growing  city  in  an  agricultural  state, 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  decides  to  advertise 
and  encourage  capitalists  to  build  manufacturing 
plants  in  the  city.  The  newspapers  take  up  the 
movement.  "We  must  get  more  industries  here," 
business  men  say;  "why  should  we  send  to  New 
York  for  our  tin  cans  and  hardware,  our  carpets 
and  our  clothes,  when  we  can  make  these  commod- 
ities right  here  at  home.'*"  Members  of  the  legis- 
lature are  urged  not  to  enact  labor  laws  for  several 
years,  for  legislation  of  this  kind  tends  to  keep 


154    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

capital  away.  Business  men  subscribe  large  sums 
of  money  to  advertise  the  industrial  advantages 
of  the  city.    The  city  must  develop  manufacturing. 

Are  we  sure  that  it  is  good  for  a  city  to  develop 
manufacturing?  Are  the  great  manufacturing 
cities  of  the  United  States  the  cities  where  the 
people  are  the  happiest.'^  Manufacturing  gives 
work  to  man,  it  is  true,  but  what  kind  of  work? 
Work  at  short  hours  with  pleasant  surroundings, 
or  monotonous  drudgery?  Pittsburg  is  one  of  the 
greatest  industrial  cities  in  the  country,  yet  a 
survey  of  Pittsburg  made  a  few  years  ago  dis- 
closed sordidness,  disease,  ignorance  and  crime 
to  an  appalling  degree.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
manufacturing  which  has  come  into  such  cities  as 
Dayton,  Ohio,  Gary,  Indiana,  and  Garden  City, 
Long  Island,  seems  to  have  encouraged  high 
standards  of  living  among  the  people. 

It  may  be  that  certain  states  have  high  stand- 
ards in  respect  to  wages,  hours  of  labor,  sanitation 
and  accident  compensation;  that  their  laws  pro- 
tect the  worker  from  exploitation;  and  that  the}'' 
have  housing  laws  which  will  prevent  the  conges- 
tion of  population.  It  may  be  that,  in  these 
states,  industries  are  desirable.  But  many  states 
are  not  ready  now  for  more  industries.    They  need 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION     155 

first  to  solve  the  problems  created  by  the  indus- 
tries now  in  operation. 

The  youth,  when  he  becomes  a  business  or  pro- 
fessional man,  may  carelessly  enter  many  public 
movements  regardless  of  their  social  significance, 
or  he  may  be  discriminating  and  engage  only  in 
those  movements  which  promise  to  contribute 
to  true  social  improvement.  Most  young  men 
have  enthusiasm  and  energy  that  is  not  needed  in 
their  business  or  profession.  Many  have  a  little 
more  money  than  they  need.  This  extra  energy 
and  extra  money  may  be  called  a  man's  surplus. 
Depending  upon  the  use  a  man  makes  of  his 
surplus,  he  becomes  either  a  constructive  or  de- 
structive force  in  the  social  world. 

The  man  who  understands  the  social  dangers 
which  the  nation  faces  will  want  to  do  more  than 
have  a  part  in  some  useful  business.  He  will  want 
to  do  more  than  get  in  the  band  wagon  and  shout 
for  every  popular  movement  which  thoughtless 
citizens  may  promote.  He  may  be  generous  with 
both  his  time  and  his  money,  but  if  his  time  and 
money  are  to  be  effective,  he  must  do  more — he 
must  give  both  intelligently. 

Problems  All  Must  Face. — A  young  man  is  going 
home  from  the  theatre.     He  turns  a  corner  and 


156    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

another  young  fellow,  who  is  shivering  in  his  ragged 
clothes  accosts  him. 

"Please,  will  you  give  me  the  price  of  a  bed?" 
he  begs. 

What  will  he  do?  Will  he  give  him  a  quarter 
to  get  rid  of  him?  Will  he  turn  him  down,  be- 
lieving he  would  buy  whiskey  with  every  cent  he 
can  beg?  Will  he  send  him  to  the  Salvation  Army? 
Will  he  forget  all  about  him  and  those  like  him 
the  next  day  or  will  he  attempt  to  discover  why 
boys,  not  yet  of  age,  are  reduced  to  such  a  hopeless 
condition? 

The  youth  has  finished  college  and  is  now  suc- 
cessfully engaged  in  business.  Between  his  home 
and  his  oflSce  is  a  large  shoe  factory.  Near  the  fac- 
tory are  the  homes  of  the  workers.  Business  be- 
comes bad.  A  hundred  workers  are  laid  off.  Many 
mortgage  their  little  homes.  Many  are  reduced  to 
poverty.  He  sees  these  men  occasionally  as  he  rides 
to  his  ofiice.  Perhaps  half  of  them  worked  on  the 
pair  of  shoes  he  is  now  wearing.  Perhaps  the  low 
wages  they  were  getting  enabled  him  to  buy  this 
particular  pair  of  shoes  for  five  dollars  instead  of  six 
or  seven  dollars.  What  is  he  going  to  do  about 
these  men  whose  families  face  starvation?  Will  he 
seek  to  aid  them  by  sending  a  check  for  ten  dollars 


DEFENDERS  OF  THE  NATION    157 

to  the  Associated  Charities?  What  can  the  Asso- 
ciated Charities  do? 

While  the  Salvation  Army  does  good,  and  while 
the  relief  work  conducted  by  well  supervised 
Associated  Charities  is  necessary  in  every  large 
city,  the  good  these  organizations  can  do  is  only 
temporary  at  the  best.  Thoughtful  men  realize 
now  that  we  must  get  at  the  causes  of  unemploy- 
ment, vagrancy  and  poverty.  William  C.  Proctor, 
N.  O.  Nelson,  Louis  D.  Brandeis  and  many  others 
seem  to  be  proceeding  wisely.  Better  conditions 
can  be  brought  about  by  such  systematic  efforts 
as  they  are  promoting. 

Every  intelligent  man,  who  has  the  welfare  of 
the  nation  at  heart,  will  want  to  enlist  in  the  fight 
against  some  one  of  man's  social  enemies,  not  as  a 
thoughtless  contributor  of  money,  not  as  an  idle 
member  of  a  board  of  directors,  but  as  an  active 
fighter. 


CHAPTER  XII 

A    CALL   TO   ACTION 

A  HUNDRED  years  ago,  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
moved  to  Baltimore  and  established  a  newspaper 
of  which  he  became  the  editor.  In  Baltimore  there 
were  slave-pens  in  the  principal  streets.  He  had 
long  recognized  the  evils  of  slavery,  and  here  he 
saw  scenes  which  stirred  him  to  action.  In  his 
paper  he  denounced  the  slave  trade  between 
Baltimore  and  New  Orleans  as  "domestic  piracy" 
and  gave  the  names  of  several  citizens  engaged  in 
the  traffic.  One  of  these  men  had  him  arrested 
for  "gross  and  malicious  libel";  he  was  found 
guilty  and  was  fined  fifty  dollars  and  costs.  He 
had  no  money  with  which  to  pay  the  fine,  and,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four,  was  thrown  into  prison. 
While  in  prison,  Garrison  prepared  several  lec- 
tures on  slavery.  He  was  released  after  seven 
weeks,  when  a  friend  in  New  York  paid  his  fine. 
He  went  to  Boston,  and  started  another  paper, 
called  the  "Liberator."  The  Vigilance  Association 
of  South  Carolina  offered  a  reward  of  $1,.50()  for 

158 


ACALLTOACTION  159 

the  arrest  and  prosecution  of  any  white  person 
found  circulating  it.  Georgia  passed  a  law  offering 
$5,000  to  any  person  securing  the  conviction  of  its 
editor.  A  mob  composed  largely  of  merchants 
got  hold  of  Garrison,  coiled  a  rope  around  his 
body,  nearly  tore  his  clothes  off  and  threatened  to 
lynch  him.  The  Mayor  of  Boston  had  him  taken 
to  jail  to  protect  him  from  the  mob. 

Garrison  and  his  "Liberator"  became  more 
widely  known,  and  famous  men  joined  the  move- 
ment against  slavery.  Its  development  and  ulti- 
mate success  at  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  are  now 
well  known.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  came  to  be 
highly  honored  by  the  greatest  men  of  the  United 
States  and  of  England. ^^^ 

To-day,  there  are  evils  as  horrible,  as  firmly  en- 
trenched and  as  dangerous  to  our  civilization  as 
was  slavery.  These  social  evils  of  to-day — poverty, 
crime  and  disease  in  their  present  aggravated 
forms — are  no  more  necessary  than  was  slavery. 
When  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  proposed,  men 
said  slaves  were  necessary  to  the  production  of 
cotton.  Now,  when  changes  less  radical  are 
proposed,  we  hear  similar  opinions. 

A  half  century  ago  when  the  people  of  Russia 
were  living  under  the  oppression  of  a  cruel,  auto- 


160    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

cratic  government,  a  small  group  of  young  men 
from  wealthy  families  renounced  lives  of  ease  and 
luxury,  and  gave  themselves  and  their  fortunes  to 
social  reform.  In  five  years,  thousands  of  Russian 
youths  were  following  their  example.  In  nearly 
every  wealthy  family,  there  came  a  struggle 
between  those  who  would  maintain  the  injustice 
and  oppression  of  the  past  and  those  who  would 
bring  about  a  brighter  day.  Young  men  left 
business  positions  and  flocked  to  the  university 
towns.  In  every  quarter  of  St.  Petersburg,  in 
every  town  of  Russia,  small  groups  were  formed 
for  self -education.  They  had  but  one  aim — to  be 
useful  to  the  people  of  Russia.  They  were  watched 
by  government  spies  and  had  to  correspond  in 
cipher.  Their  homes  were  raided;  many  were 
imprisoned  and  sent  to  Siberia.  In  the  prisons, 
some  went  insane,  others  contracted  tuberculosis 
and  died.  The  slightest  suspicion  of  hostility 
towards  the  government  was  sufficient  cause  to 
take  a  young  man  from  high  school,  to  imprison 
him  for  several  months,  and  finally  to  exile  him  in 
some  remote  province. ^^^  Persecution  seemed  not 
to  deter  them,  however.  Girls,  after  passing 
teachers'  examinations  and  learning  to  nurse, 
went  by   the  hundreds  into  the  villages  of  the 


A  CALL  TO  ACTION  161 

poor.  Young  men  went  out  as  physicians,  as 
physicians'  assistants,  teachers,  agricultural  labor- 
ers, blacksmiths  and  woodcutters.  They  taught 
the  people  to  read,  gave  them  medical  aid,  and 
were  ready  for  any  service  that  would  raise  them 
from  darkness  and  misery.  ^^^  Their  work  helped 
make  possible  the  Revolution  of  March,  1917. 

To-day  in  the  United  States  there  is  probably 
less  misery  than  there  was  in  Russia  a  half  century 
ago;  but  reform  seems  in  some  respects  to  be  as 
difficult.  Then,  reform  measures  were  met  by  the 
open  opposition  of  government  officials,  by  im- 
prisonment and  exile.  Opposition  awoke  the 
fighting  spirit  of  youth.  Men  were  ready  for 
heroic  sacrifice.  Now,  social  reform  often  is 
greeted  by  criticism,  ridicule  or  social  ostracism — 
a  kind  of  opposition  which  seems  sometimes  to 
be  more  effective  than  persecution. 

The  warring  nations  of  Europe  have  been 
purified  by  the  fire  of  battle.  The  acid  has  burned 
away  the  decayed  tissue  of  European  civilization. 
Europe  is  down  to  brain  and  brawn.  Destructive, 
wasteful  and  terrible  as  war  is,  it  has  this  in  its 
favor, — it  arouses  people  from  selfish  and  frivolous 
living.  Among  those  on  the  firing  lines  and  those 
at  home,  shallow  living  has  given  way  to  patient 


162    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

suffering,  sacrifice  and  noble  endeavor.  The  idle 
rich  have  learned  the  simple  joy  of  honest  work. 
Class  prejudice  seems  largely  to  have  broken 
down.     Europe  has  been  regenerated.  ^^^ 

In  the  United  States,  there  is  now  a  class 
of  people  living  in  extravagance  and  indolence. 
While  frail  women  labor  long  hours,  while  babies 
die  from  neglect,  while  little  children  starve,  while 
tuberculosis  and  its  allies,  and  the  disasters  of 
industry  kill  thousands — in  the  midst  of  all  this 
misery,  there  are  bright,  capable  American  men 
and  women  who  fritter  away  their  time  in  wasteful 
amusements  and  other  extravagances.  In  June, 
1915,  82,000  persons  in  Chicago  paid  $400,000  to 
see  an  automobile  race.^^^  The  people  of  the 
United  States  spend  over  $400,000,000  per  year 
for  diamonds  and  pearls.  ^^'^  Wholesome  recreation 
is  stimulating  and  necessary,  but  when  men  give 
themselves  to  frivolous  amusements  and  ex- 
travagance not  only  do  they  waste  money,  they 
also  waste  time  and  energy  which  they  owe  to  the 
service  of  humanity. 

Those  of  us  who  have  clean,  comfortable  homes, 
with  wholesome  food,  fresh  air,  rest  and  recreation 
in  abundance,  those  of  us  who  see  nothing  of  crime, 
those  of  us  who  are  in  robust  health,  know  little  of 


Two  Ways  of  Getting  a  Meal 


ACALLTOACTION  163 

the  sordidness,  the  suffering,  the  misery,  caused 
by  poverty,  crime  and  disease.  We  Hve  in  a  little 
world  of  petty  concerns  and  pleasures.  We  are 
blind  to  the  throbbing  life  of  humanity.  Indif- 
ference is  prevalent.  Many  are  not  able  to  see 
through  outward  signs  of  prosperity  to  the  misery 
at  the  heart  of  society.  Others,  in  their  ignorance, 
think  that  people  live  sordid  lives  because  they 
do  not  want  to  live  differently.  Some  are  indif- 
ferent because  they  lack  the  mental  and  spiritual 
capacity  to  look  seriously  upon  life.  A  few,  at 
some  time  in  their  lives,  come  into  direct  contact 
with  human  misery,  but  they  have  not  the  courage 
to  face  it.  They  turn  aside.  They  ignore  the 
misery  of  the  world  and  live  selfish  lives  because 
they  are  cowards. 

Our  failure  to  grapple  effectively  with  disease, 
crime  and  poverty  is  not  due  to  lack  of  power.  No 
civilization  in  history  has  had  so  great  resources 
as  has  our  nation.  Never  has  there  been  so  much 
wealth  and  human  energy  in  any  country  as  there 
is  to-day  in  the  United  States. 

The  inventive  genius,  the  organizing  ability 
and  the  energies  of  thousands  of  men  in  America 
are  given  over  to  the  upbuilding  of  huge  commer- 
cial enterprises  which  yield  vast  fortunes  for  their 


164    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

promoters.  We  have  wealth  and  power  to  spare. 
During  the  first  five  months  of  the  European  war, 
the  British  Admiralty  received  16,000  offers  of 
new  scientific  devices  for  use  in  the  war.^-''  The 
inventive  genius,  the  organizing  ability  and  the 
energies  of  thousands  of  the  best  trained  men  of  the 
world  have  been  given  over  to  the  science  of  war- 
fare. The  wealth  of  nations  has  been  placed  at  the 
command  of  the  warring  nations.  Their  aiTnies, 
even  in  time  of  peace,  consumed  millions  of  dollars 
annually.    They  developed  marvelous  eflSciency. 

If  the  same  wealth,  the  same  inventive  genius, 
the  same  organizing  ability,  and  the  same  energies 
were  directed  in  a  great  campaign  against  poverty, 
disease  and  crime,  these  enemies  might  be  almost 
annihilated  within  a  period  of  twenty-five  years. 
Poverty,  crime  and  disease  are  not  necessary  evils, 
though  complacent  persons  may  say  that  they 
are.  Slavery  used  to  be  regarded  as  a  necessary 
evil;  many  diseases  used  to  be  considered  necessary 
evils  which  to-day  are  either  preventable  or  curable. 
The  great  social  evils  of  the  present  day  are  no 
more  necessary  than  was  slavery,  no  more  nec- 
essary than  was  yellow  fever.  Yet  no  nation  has 
yet  directed  its  full  strength  in  a  campaign  against 
them. 


ACALLTOACTION  165 

A  crisis  is  upon  us.  If  we  do  not  make  radical 
changes  in  our  social  and  economic  life,  social 
decadence  or  a  bloody  revolution  will  result.  As 
the  people  of  Russia  revolted  under  the  oppression 
of  an  autocratic  government,  so  may  the  oppressed, 
the  starving,  the  unemployed  of  modern  industry 
take  arms  against  our  present  industrial  system. ^^^ 
Jack  London  wrote,  a  few  years  ago,  that  there 
was  then  a  revolutionary  army  millions  strong. 
He  said,  "The  cry  of  this  army  is,  'No  Quarter!* 
we  want  all  that  you  possess.  .  .  .  We  are  going 
to  take  your  governments,  your  palaces,  and  all 
your  purpled  ease  away  from  you."  ^^-  Probably 
most  students  of  sociology  do  not  believe  that 
there  will  be  such  a  revolution.  But  upon  this, 
all  well  informed  men  agree — either  we  shall  have 
a  revolution  or  we  shall  succumb  as  did  Greece  and 
Rome,  unless  we  attack  vigorously  the  evils  which 
threaten  us. 

Here,  in  the  United  States  of  America,  lies  the 
hope  of  mankind.  One  by  one,  the  nations  of  the 
world  have  risen  to  eminence  and  then  have  passed 
away.  Must  this  nation  do  likewise.'^  To  us  are 
being  brought  the  vices  and  the  virtues  of  all  the 
peoples  of  the  world.  Here  in  America,  in  a  civ- 
ihzation  more  complex  than  it  has  ever  been  be- 


166    THE  YOUTH  AND  THE  NATION 

fore,  there  are  struggling  the  wreckers  and  the 
builders  of  society.  The  hour  of  the  nation's 
supreme  need  has  come. 

In  this  hour,  the  nation  calls  for  its  j'outh. 
Young  men  of  action  are  wanted;  men  who  will 
take  arms  against  the  nation's  enemies,  men  who 
will  take  risks  and  make  sacrifices.  We  must 
confer  of  course,  we  must  weigh  issues,  study  is 
essential.  We  must  not  study  less,  but  we  must 
act  more.  Words  are  discounted;  they  are  losing 
their  force  because  they  have  been  used  so  glibly. 
To  prove  that  we  are  sincere,  we  must  do  less 
talking  and  more  acting.  What  if  we  do  make 
mistakes?  Wliat  if  we  are  defeated.^  What  if  we 
do  die,  if  it  is  for  the  cause  of  humanity.^  Is  it  not 
better  to  die  fighting  for  a  noble  cause  than  to  live 
soft,  useless  lives  of  cowardly  and  passive  enjoy- 
ment? "Work  is  life,  idleness  is  death."  True 
happiness  is  in  action,  in  struggling,  in  strenuous 
endeavor.  ^^^ 

Men  like  William  Lloyd  Garrison  are  needed 
to-day,  men  who  have  the  courage  to  break  with 
old  customs  and  cry  out  with  a  loud  voice  against 
the  injustice  and  oppression  of  our  own  time,  and 
the  strength  to  endure  discouragement.  Men  are 
wanted  like  Jacob  Riis,   Charles  R.   Henderson 


ACALLTOACTION  167 

and  John  H.  Eshleman,  for  they  not  only  had 
visions  of  a  better  day,  but  they  spent  their  Hves 
in  making  these  visions  come  true. 

Few  men  will  be  called  upon  to  sacrifice  life  and 
to  die  in  action.  A  larger  number  are  wanted  for 
a  more  difficult  service — they  are  needed  to  live 
for  humanity,  enduring  criticism  and  ridicule,  and 
fighting  on  day  after  day  without  the  stimulus 
of  dramatic  conflict. 

Disease,  crime  and  poverty  thrive  because  they 
are  treacherous  enemies;  they  have  been  insid- 
iously developing;  they  fight  in  the  dark.  Our 
energetic  and  courageous  youth,  in  business,  high 
school  and  college  have  hardly  seen  them,  so 
stealthily  do  they  go  about  their  work.  But 
when  these  enemies  of  mankind  are  pointed  out 
to  our  young  men,  their  fighting  strength  will 
assert  itself.  They  will  enlist;  and  then  we  may 
look  for  a  better  day. 

Formerly  man  looked  upon  these  enemies  from 
afar.  Now,  he  has  grappled  with  them  for  a  fight 
to  the  finish.  Started  by  a  few  vigorous,  deter- 
mined men,  the  fight  is  being  waged  with  increasing 
enthusiasm.  The  ranks  are  being  constantly  in- 
creased by  young  men  from  the  colleges  and  uni- 
versities equally  vigorous  and  determined.    Some 


168    THE   YOUTH   AND  THE  NATION 

have  given  their  lives  in  the  fight,  but  others  have 
taken  their  places.  Companies  of  recruits  are  in 
training  for  field  work.  Brave  generals  with  ar- 
mies of  seasoned  men  are  already  in  action.  Social 
engineers  are  planning  statewide  and  country- 
wide campaigns.  If  a  sufficient  number  of  men 
enHst,  disease,  crime  and  poverty  as  menacing 
enemies  of  the  nation,  will  be  conquered  in  the 
next  generation. 


SELECTED   BOOKS 

Enemies  of  the  Nation 

Jacob  A.  Riis:  How  the  Other  Half  Lives. 

Walter  A.  Wyekoff:  The  Workers  (2  Volumes),  The  East  and 

The  West. 
John  Spargo:  The  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Children. 
Thomas  Mott  Osborne:  Within  Prison  Walls. 
Robert  Hunter:  Poverty. 
Edward  T.  Devine:  Misery  and  its  Causes. 
David  Starr  Jordan :  War  and  Waste. 

Elementary  Text  Books 

C.  A.  Ellwood:  Sociology  and  Modern  Social  Problems. 

Ezra  Thayer  Towne:  Social  Problems. 

Ely  and  Wicker:  Elementary  Principles  of  Economics. 

Defenders  of  the  Nation 

Jacob  A.  Riis:  The  Making  of  an  American. 

Alexander  Irvine:  From  the  Bottom  Up. 

Brand  Whitlock:  Forty  Years  of  It. 

Joseph  R.  Buchanan:  The  Story  of  a  Labor  Agitator. 

Booker  T.  Washington:  Up  from  Slavery. 

John  Graham  Brooks:  An  American  Citizen,  The  Life  of 

William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr. 
Howard  A.  Kelley :  Walter  Reed  and  Yellow  Fever. 
S.  Ralph  Harlow:  The  Life  of  H.  Roswell  Bates. 
Stephen  Chalmers:  The  Beloved  Physician. 
Peter  Kropotkin:  Memoirs  of  a  Revolutionist. 
Ida  M.  Tarbell:  New  Ideals  in  Business. 

1G9 


170  SELECTED  BOOKS 

Social  Problems  in  Fiction,  Drama  and  Verse 

Ernest  Poole:  The  Harl)or. 

Henry  Sydnor  Harrison:  V.  Vs.  Eyes. 

Winston  Churchill:  A  Far  Country. 

The  Inside  of  the  Cup, 
James  Oppenheim :  Doctor  Ilast. 
William  Allen  White:  A  Certain  Rich  Man. 
Ralph  Connor:  The  Doctor. 
John  Galsworthy:  Strife  (Drama). 
Wilfred  Wilson  Gibson:  Fires  (Verse). 
John  Carter:  Hard  Labor  and  other  Poems  (Verse). 

Choosing  a  Vocation 

Weaver  and  Byler:  Profitable  Vocations  for  Boys. 

F.  W.  Rollins:  What  can  a  Young  Man  do. 

William  De  Witt  Hyde  (Editor) :  The  Young  Folks  Library 

of  Vocations,  ten  volumes. 
Salaried  Positions  for  Men  in  Social  Work,  The  Intercollegiate 

Bureau  of  Occupations,  38  W.  32d  St.,  New  York. 

Physical  Training 

H.  H.  Moore:  Keeping  in  Condition. 
Michael  C.  Murphy' :  Athletic  Training. 

Vocational  Guidance — For  Teachers  and  Parents 

Meyer  Bloomfield:  Youth,  School  anil  Vocation. 
Frank  Parsons:  Choosing  a  Vocation. 
Jesse  B.  Davis:  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance. 
J.  Adams  Puffer:  Vocational  Guidance. 

For  further  information  upon  particular  subjects,  see  Notes, 
pages  171  to  177. 


NOTES 

1.  T.  P.  O'Connor,  M.  P.:  Great  Deeds  of  the  Great  War, 
T.  P.  O'Connor's  Journal  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.,  London, 
Vol.  1,  p.  148. 

2.  The  New  York  Times,  Aug.  3,  1915. 

3.  The  Outlook,  New  York,  Vol.  113,  No.  11,  July  12,  1916, 
pp.  567-8  and  No.  15,  Aug.  9,  1916,  p.  822. 

4.  Irving  Fisher:  Memorial  Relating  to  the  Conservation 
of  Human  Life,  Senate  Document  No.  493,  62d  Congress, 
Second  Session,  p.  9. 

5.  New  York  Evening  Post,  May  16,  1916. 

6.  R.  C.  Richards,  Chairman  Central  Safety  Committee, 
Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad  in  a  statement 
before  the  First  Co-operative  Safety  Congress;  see  Pro- 
ceedings, Princeton  University  Press,  1912,  p.  129. 

Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Rela- 
tions, Washington,  D.  C,  1915,  p.  95. 

7.  Bulletin  No.  8,  June,  1915,  War  Department,  Office  of 
the  Surgeon  General,  p.  36. 

8.  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Department  of  Commerce,  Bul- 
letin No.  121. 

Ezra  Thayer  Towne:   Social   Problems.     The  Mac- 
millan  Co.,  New  York,  1916,  p.  298. 

9.  The  Oregon  Journal  (Portland),  July  9,  1916. 

10.  Fisher:  National  Vitality,  Its  Wastes  and  Conservation, 
Senate  Document  No.  419,  61st  Congress,  Second  Ses- 
sion, p.  656. 

See  also  Towne:  Social  Problems,  p.  384. 

11.  Lewis  M.  Terman:  Medical  Inspection,  Chap.  14,  Report 
of  the  Survey  of  the  Public  School  System  of  Scliool 
District  No.  1,  Multnomah  County,  Oregon,  1913,  p.  260. 

171 


172  NOTES 

12.  H.  H.  Goddard:  The  Kallikak  Family,  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1912,  pp.  18,  19. 

13.  Goddard:   Feeble-miiKhuhicss,   Its  Causes   and   Conse- 
quences, The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1914,  p.  582. 

14.  Henry  M.  Hyde:  The  third  of  a  series  of  articles  in  The 
Chicago  Tribune,  Sept.  27,  1915. 

15.  Ibid:  Sept.  28,  1915. 

16.  Richard  Harding  Davis:  The  New  Sing  Sing,  New  York 
Times,  July  18,  1915. 

Thomas  Mott  Osborne:  Prison  Efficiency,  Efficiency 
Society  Journal,  November,  1915. 

Osborne:  Prison  Reform,  A  Circular  of  the  National 
Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor,  Broadway  and 
116th  St.,  New  York,  p.  10. 

17.  Bureau  of  the  Census,  Department  of  Commerce,  Bul- 
letin 121. 

18.  National   Child  Labor  Committee,  New  York,  April, 
1917,  Pamphlet  No.  276. 

19.  John  A.  Fitch:  Arson  and  Citizenship,  Survey,  New 
York,  Jan.  22,  1916,  Vol.  35,  No.  17,  p.  477. 

See  also  The  Outlook,  Jan.  19,  1916,  Vol.  112,  pp.  121, 
122;  also  Jan.  26,  1916,  p.  168. 

20.  United  States  Census,  1910,  Vol.  1,  p.  178,  Table  37  and 
p.  1282,  Table  22. 

21.  Lawrence  Veiller:  Housing  Reform,  Charities  Publica- 
tion Com.,  New  York,  1911,  p.  10. 

22.  Ibid.,  p.  5. 

23.  American  Year  Book,  D.  Appleton  and  Co.,  New  York, 
1914,  p.  385. 

24.  The  Chicago  Society  of  Social  Hygiene,  Chicago,  Cir- 
cular No.  3. 

25.  Bulletin  No.  8,  June,  1915,  War  Department,  Office  of 
the  Surgeon-General,  p.  36. 

26.  Towne:  Social  Problems,  p.  263. 

27.  The  Survey,  Jan.  4,  1908,  Vol.  19,  No.  14,  p.  1325. 


NOTES  173 

28.  R.  C.  Richards,  Chairman  Central  Safety  Committee, 
Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad  in  a  statement  before 
the  First  Co-operative  Safety  Congress;  see  Proceedings, 
Princeton  University  Press,  1912,  p.  129. 

Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Rela- 
tions, Washington,  D.  C,  1915,  p.  95. 

29.  Mary  Alden  Hopkins:  New  England  Mill  Slaves,  Good 
Housekeeping  Magazine,  Sept.,  1913,  Vol.  57,  No.  3, 
pp.  323-330. 

See  also  publications  of  the   National   Child   Labor 
Committee. 

30.  Edward  T.  Devine:  The  Normal  Life,  Survey  Associates, 
Inc.,  New  York,  1915,  p.  87. 

31.  Sue  Ainslee  Clark  and  Edith  Wyatt:  Making  Both  Ends 
Meet,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1911,  pp.  13-16. 

32.  Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations, 
p.  26. 

33.  Scott  Nearing:  Wages  in  the  United  States,  The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York,  1911,  pp.  213-214. 

Towne:  Social  Problems,  pp.  85-86. 

34.  Jack  London:  Revolution  and  other  Essays,  The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York,  p.  19. 

35.  American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  New  York,  Nov., 
1915,  Vol.  5,  No.  3,  p.  491. 

36.  London:  Revolution,  p.  18. 

37.  Victor  Murdock:  A  National  Bureau  of  Employment, 
Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  May  1,  1914, 
P-5. 

38.  American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Nov.,  1915,  Vol.  5, 
No.  3,  p.  477. 

39.  E.  H.  Gary:  Unemployment  and  Business,  Harpers 
Magazine,  New  York,  June,  1915,  Vol.  131,  p.  72. 

40.  American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  June,  1915,  Vol.  5, 
No.  2,  p.  173. 

41.  Towne:  Social  Problems,  pp.  141-142. 


174  NOTES 

42.  Charles  W.  Holman:  The  Tenant  Farmer,  The  Survey, 
April  17,  1915,  Vol.  34,  pp.  62-64. 

43.  Warren  H.  Wilson:  Farm  Co-operation  for  better  Busi- 
ness, Schools  and  Churches,  The  Survey,  Apr.  8,  191G, 
Vol.  36,  No.  2,  p.  51. 

44.  Graham  R.  Taylor:  From  Plowed  Land  to  Pavements, 
The  Survey,  April  1,  1916,  Vol.  36,  No.  1,  p.  25. 

45.  Walter  A.  WyckoflF:  The  Workers — The  West,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  pp.  249-250. 

46.  New  York  Journal,  Jan.  2,  1902. 

47.  William  H.  Matthews:  The  Muckers,  The  Survey, 
Oct.  2,  1915,  Vol.  35,  p.  5. 

48.  F.  H.  Streightoff:  The  Standard  of  Living  Among  the 
Industrial  People  of  America,  Houghton,  Mifflin  Co., 
Boston,  1911,  p.  162. 

Robert  Hunter:  Poverty,  Grosset  and  Dimlap,  New 
York,  p.  7. 

49.  Alfred  Marshall:  Principles  of  Economics,  Macmillan  & 
Co.,  Limited,  London,  1910,  pp.  212-213. 

50.  Thomas  Carlyle:  Past  and  Present,  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons,  New  York,  pp.  210-211. 

51.  Jacob  H.  Hollander:  The  Abolition  of  Poverty,  Hough- 
ton Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1914,  p.  9. 

W.  I.  King:  The  Distribution  of  Wealth  and  Income  in 
the  United  States,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1915, 
p.  168. 

Streightoff:  The  Distribution  of  Incomes  in  the  United 
States,  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  New  York,  1912,  p.  139. 

Hunter:  Poverty,  p.  60. 

Towne:  Social  Problems,  pp.  288-9. 

Charles  A.  Ellwood:  Sociology  and  Modern  Social 
Problems,  American  Book  Co.,  New  York,  p)p.  243-244. 

Nearing:  Income,  p.  106. 
52.  The  New  Republic,  New  York,  April  21,  1917,  Vol.  10, 
No.  129,  p.  339. 


NOTES  175 

Bulletin  No.  76,  U.  S.  Public  Health  Service,  Mar.  1916, 
pp.  26-28. 

53.  Oregon  Journal,  Portland,  Feb.  20,  1916. 

54.  Harper's  Weekly,  New  York,  Feb.  13,  1915,  Vol.  60, 
pp.  160-161. 

55.  Ibid. 

56.  Richard  Barry:  Dogs  and  Babies,  Pearson's  Magazine, 
Dec,  1909,  Vol.  22,  No.  6,  pp.  727-736. 

See  also  Anne  Watkins :  Dogs  in  Society,  Good  House- 
keeping Magazine,  New  York,  March,  1913,  Vol.  66, 
No.  3,  pp.  293-301. 

57.  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Report,  statistics  on 
wheat  production  quoted  by  London,  Revolution,  pp. 
24-25. 

58.  Nearing:  Income,  p.  198. 

59.  King:  The  Distribution  of  Wealth  and  Income  in  the 
United  States,  p.  81. 

60.  The  World  Almanac  for  1916,  Press  Pub.  Co.,  New  York, 
pp.  278-279. 

61.  Graham  Wallas:  The  Great  Society,  Macmillan  Co., 
New  York,  1911,  Chap.  1. 

62.  Walter  Rauschenbusch:  Christianity  and  the  Social 
Crisis,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1908,  Chap.  5. 

63.  Gustavus  Myers:  History  of  Great  American  Fortunes, 
Charles  H.  Kerr  and  Co.,  Chicago,  1911,  Vol.  1, 
pp.  83-94. 

64.  Bernard  Shaw:  Socialism  for  Millionaires,  The  Fabian 
Society,  3  Clement's  Inn,  Strand,  W.  C,  London,  Tract 
No.  107,  pp.  3,  4. 

65.  Ida  M.  Tarbell:  He  Helps  Capitalists  Die  Poor,  The 
American  Magazine,  New  York,  Sept.,  1914,  Vol.  78, 
No.  3,  p.  56. 

66.  John  Graham  Brooks:  An  American  Citizen,  The  Life 
of  William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  Co.,  New 
York,  1910,  pp.  302-303. 


176  NOTES 

67.  Paul  Monroe:  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York,  1913,  Vol.  5,  p.  1G9. 

68.  Harvey  Leigh  Smith:  The  Christian  Race,  Association 
Press,  New  York,  1908,  pp.  136-143. 

See  also  Hillis:  Great  Books  as  Life  Teachers,  Life  of 
Shaftesbury. 

69.  Peter  Kropotkin:  An  Appeal  to  the  Young,  Max  M. 
Maisel,  422  Grand  Street,  New  York. 

70.  Harry  H.  Moore:  Keeping  in  Condition,  The  Macmillan 
Co.,  1915,  Chaps.  1  and  2. 

71.  William  T.  Foster:  Specializing  in  the  Humanities,  Reed 
College  Record  (Portland,  Oregon),  No.  13,  Jan.,  1914. 

72.  Howard  A.  Kelly:  Walter  Reed  and  Yellow  Fever,  Mc- 
Clure,  Phillips  and  Co.,  New  York,  1906. 

Walter  D.  McCaw:  Walter  Reed,  A  Memoir,  Annual 
Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  for  Year  Ending 
June  30,  1905,  Government  Printing  Office,  Washington, 
D.  C,  pp.  549-556. 

73.  P.  T.  McGrath:  Grenfell  of  Labrador,  Review  of  Re- 
views, Dec,  1908,  Vol.  38,  No.  6,  pp.  679-686. 

74.  Richard  C.  Cabot:  Better  Doctoring  for  Less  Money, 
American  Magazine,  April,  1916,  Vol.  81,  No.  4,  pp.  7-9. 

75.  The  Survey,  April  10,  1915,  Vol.  34,  No.  2,  pp.  55-56. 

The  Outlook,  June  9, 1915,  Vol.  110,  No.  6,  pp.  299-300. 

76.  Physical  Training,  124  East  28th  Street,  New  York, 
Dec,  1915,  p.  49. 

77.  The  Outlook,  Feb.  9,  1916,  Vol.  112,  p.  295. 

The  New  Republic,  New  York,  Feb.  5,  1916,  Vol.  6, 
No.  66,  pp.  4-6. 

78.  The  Fresno  (Cal.)  Morning  Republican,  Feb.  29,  1916. 

79.  Brand  Whitlock:  Forty  Years  of  it,  D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
New  York,  1914. 

80.  Ray  Stannard  Baker:  Goethals,  The  Man  and  How  He 
Works,  The  American  Magazine,  Oct.,  1913,  Vol.  76, 
pp.  22-27. 


NOTES  177 

81.  The  Outlook,  Nov.  25,  1914,  Vol.  108,  pp.  666-667. 

The  Survey,  Oct.  17,  1914,  Vol.  33,  No.  3,  p.  77. 

82.  S.  Ralph  Harlow:  The  Life  of  H.  Roswell  Bates,  Asso- 
ciation Press,  New  York. 

83.  Murray  and  Harris:  Christian  Standards  in  Life,  Asso- 
ciation Press,  New  York,  1915,  pp.  10-19.  See  also 
Alfred  J.  Costain:  The  Life  of  Dr.  Arthur  Jackson  of 
Manchuria. 

84.  Council  on  Medical  Education  in  the  United  States, 
Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Aug.  19, 
1916,  Vol.  67,  No.  8,  p.  623. 

85.  From  a  letter  written  by  Kenneth  Scott  Latourette, 
Ph.  D.,  formerly  with  the  Yale  College  in  China. 

86.  Robert  Shafer:  Two  of  the  Newest  Poets,  The  Atlantic 
Monthly,  April,  1913,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  4,  p.  494. 

John  Haynes  Holmes:  Wilfred  Wilson  Gibson,  The 
Survey,  Jan.  6,  1917,  Vol.  37,  No.  14,  pp.  409-10. 

87.  The  Bookman,  April,  1915,  Vol.  41,  pp.  115-18. 

88.  The  Survey,  Vol.  35,  No.  1,  Oct.  2,  1915,  pp.  15-22. 

89.  The  Outlook,  June  27,  1914,  Vol.  107,  p.  432. 

90.  Jacob  A.  Riis:  The  Making  of  an  American,  The  Mac- 
millan  Co.,  New  York,  1908. 

91.  Janet  Ruth  Rankin:  Profit  Sharing  for  Savings,  The 
World's  Work,  Garden  City,  N.  Y.,  July,  1914,  Vol.  28, 
No.  3,  pp.  316-320. 

92.  Donald  Wilhelm :  Charles  M.  Cox,  The  Outlook,  Nov.  25, 
1914,  Vol.  108,  pp.  695-698. 

93.  Harry  H.  Dunn :  Fifty  Shops  given  to  Clerks,  Technical 
World  Magazine,  June,  1915,  Vol.  23,  No.  4,  pp.  444-448. 

94.  Wilhelm:  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  of  the  Harvester  Trust. 
The  Outlook,  Sept.  23,  1914,  Vol.  108,  pp.  196-201. 

95.  Charles  R.  Henderson:  Citizens  in  Industry,  D.  Apple- 
ton  and  Co.,  New  York,  1915,  Chap.  3. 

96.  Ibid.,  Chap.  1. 

97.  Ibid.,  p.  53. 


178  NOTES 

98.  Ida  M.  Tarbell:  New  Ideals  in  Business,  The  Macmillan 
Co. 

99.  Walter  A.  Dyer:  From  Farm  Hand  to  Governor,  The 
Craftsman,  New  York,  May,  19U,  Vol.  26,  pp.  156-161. 

100.  F.  Morton:  Co-operation  among  Five  Million,  Technical 
World  Magazine,  Aug.,  1914,  Vol.  21,  No.  6,  pp.  917-920. 

101.  Taylor:  From  Plowed  Land  to  Pavement,  The  Survey, 
April  1,  1916,  Vol.  36,  No.  1,  pp.  22-26. 

102.  Monthly  Crop  Report,  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  Feb.  29,  1916,  Vol.  2,  No.  2,  p.  16. 

103.  Herbert  N.  Casson:  The  New  American  Farmer,  Farm 
and  Forest,  Edited  by  Wm.  Dewitt  Hyde,  Hall  and 
Locke  Co.,  Boston,  Vol.  3,  of  Vocations,  pp.  64-76. 

104.  Joseph  R.  Buchanan:  The  Story  of  a  Labor  Agitator, 
The  Outlook,  New  York,  1903. 

105.  Walter  E.  Weyl:  John  Mitchell,  The  Outlook,  March  24, 
1906,  Vol.  32,  pp.  657-662. 

Frankhn  Julian  Warne:  John  Mitchell,  The  American 
Monthly  Review  of  Reviews,  New  York,  Nov.,  1902, 
Vol.  26,  No.  5,  pp.  556-560. 

Current  Literature,  New  York,  April,  1912,  Vol.  52, 
No.  4,  pp.  401-404. 

Ehzabeth  C.  Morris:  John  Mitchell,  the  Leader  and 
the  Man,  The  Independent,  New  York,  Dec.  25,  1902, 
Vol.  54,  No.  2821,  pp.  3073-78. 

106.  Information  furnished  by  Helen  C.  Dwight,  National 
Child  Labor  Committee,  105  E.  22d  St.,  New  York. 

107.  Osborne:  Prison  Efficiency. 

Osborne:  Prison  Reform. 

108.  Stephen  Chalmers:  The  Beloved  Physician,  Edward 
Livingston  Trudeau,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston  and 
New  York,  1916. 

109.  Galen  M.  Fisher:  John  R.  Mott,  An  Appreciation,  Jap- 
anese Young  Men's  Christian  Association  Union,  Tokyo, 
1907. 


NOTES  179 

110.  Brooks:  An  American  Citizen,  The  Life  of  William  H. 
Baldwin,  Jr. 

111.  Tarbell:  Charles  W.  Garfield,  The  American  Magazine, 
Mar.,  1914,  Vol.  77,  No.  3,  pp.  63-65. 

112.  Edward  J.  Butler:  Thomas  M.  Mulry,  a  sketch  in  Bul- 
letin No.  74  of  the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and 
Correction,  315  Plymouth  Court,  Chicago,  April,  1916. 

113.  Fred  H.  Rindge,  Jr.:  3500  College  Students  Humanizing 
Industry,  The  World's  Work,  Mar.,  1914,  Vol.  27,  No.  5, 
pp.  505-511. 

114.  Sarah  K.  Bolton:  Lives  of  Poor  Boys  who  Became  Fa- 
mous. Thomas  Y.  Crowell  and  Co.,  New  York,  pp.  156- 
171. 

115.  Kropotkin:  Memoirs  of  a  Revolutionist,  Houghton, 
Mifflin  Co.,  New  York,  p.  310. 

116.  Ibid.,  pp.  301-302. 

117.  Frederick  Palmer:  When  Peace  Comes,  Collier's,  Feb. 
19,  1916. 

118.  The  Chicago  Tribune,  June  27,  1915. 

119.  John  P.  Pulleyn:  American  Extravagance,  The  World 
Magazine,  August  24,  1913. 

120.  New  York  Times,  July  20,  1915. 

121.  Nearing:  Income,  p.  191. 

122.  London:  Revolution,  p.  8. 

123.  Charles  Wagner:  Youth,  Dodd,  Mead  and  Co.,  New 
York,  1893,  pp.  182-191. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


'"T'HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a 
few  of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects. 


Keeping  in  Condition 

By  HARRY  H.  MOORE 

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This  volume  tells  of  men  who  have  achieved  the  vigor  of  man- 
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and  fresh  air,  and  with  the  control  of  the  sex  instinct.  While 
it  is  desirable  to  train  at  certain  periods  for  particular  kinds  of 
athletics,  a  wiser  way,  the  author  explains,  is  to  keep  in  training, 
in  the  best  possible  condition,  all  the  time.  It  describes  how  the 
spark  of  life  is  passed  on  from  generation  to  generation,  the 
relationship  of  training  to  the  progress  of  the  race  and  the  prog- 
ress of  the  nation.  Intended  primarily  for  boys  14  to  19  years 
of  age,  it  will  be  found  useful  to  parents,  teachers,  club  leaders 
and  all  associated  with  boys. 

"Mr.  Moore  has  succeeded  in  an  admirable  way  in  bringing 
to  youth  in  a  chivalric  fashion  some  of  the  most  profound  truths 
of  life.  The  message  of  the  book  represents  a  forward  and  up- 
ward step  toward  that  ideal  goal  in  which  the  facts  of  physical 
function  are  related  to  the  higher  mental  and  moral  development 
of  the  individual.  It  ought  to  have  a  wide  circulation  among 
boys  in  the  teen  age." — George  J.  Fisher,  M.D.,  Secretary 
Physical  Department,  International  Committee  of  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations. 

"Mr.  Moore's  point  of  attack  is  excellent.  He  has  made  a 
great  advance  over  those  writers  who  focus  the  limelight  on  the 
abnormal  and  sensational  side  of  sexual  life.  He  has  done  a 
good  work." — Maurice  A.  Bigelow,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of 
Biology,  Columbia  University,  New  York. 


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Keeping  Physically  Fit 

By  WILLIAJM  J.  CROMIE 

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A  book  of  common-sense  exercises  for  the  entire 
family,  founded  on  the  author's  wide  experience  as  a 
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numbers  of  people  who  sought  health  and  fitness,  or 
sought  to  keep  it.  There  are  concise  presentations 
of  the  effects  on  health  of  eating,  drinking,  bathing, 
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and  children  ;  it  is  practical  and  dependable,  it  is 
entertainingly  written,  well  illustrated,  and  presents 
a  sane  program. 

"  One  of  the  most  practical  manuals  of  exercise 
that  those  who  have  specialized  in  physical  culture 
have  ever  produced."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"Written  clearly  and  sensibly,  and  the  exercises 
suggested  for  the  busy  man,  the  nervous  woman,  the 
growing  child,  and  others,  are  well  shown  by  photo- 
graphs."—  The  Outlook. 

"  A  sensible  and  valuable  little  book."  —  New  York 
Sun. 


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Handbook  of  Athletic  Games 

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tion Association;  Author  of  "School  Gymnastics,"  "Gamea 
for  the  Playground,  Home,  School  and  Gynanasium," 
"The  Posture  of  School  Children,"  etc. 

and 

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Clotk,  i2mo,  illustrated,  $1.50 

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Bancroft  and  Pulvermacher's  "  Handbook  of  Athletic  Games" 
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"An  amazing  amount  of  information." — New  York  Herald. 

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— Good  Health. 

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This  is  a  book  for  boys.  Around  the  "circus"  idea  the  author 
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"...  A  book  every  healthy  boy  will  long  for." — The  Boston 
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book  we  have  seen  in  many  years." — Journal  of  Education,  Boston. 

"Give  this  to  your  son  and  you  will  have  a  backyard  circus 
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"It  is  a  book  that  boys  will  devour." — Watchman-Examiner. 

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World. 

"Will  be  of  great  value  in  the  home,  the  school,  or  the  gym- 
nasium."— Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle. 

"The  best  of  the  book  is  that  it  does  the  boy's  father  just  as 
much  good  to  read  it  as  it  does  the  boy  himself." — Oakland  (Cat.) 
Tribune. 

"Boys  will  adore  the  book." — Chicago  Tribune. 

"A  unique  and  very  interesting  presentation  of  exercises  in 
physical  training." — The  School  Review. 


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